The tram tunnel in Nervion, built in early 2024, is generating controversy due to the public space it occupies on Ramón y Cajal Avenue. This main road in the central part of the city is left as a single lane for private vehicles, with only buses and taxis on the opposite side.
What is not open yet is what effect this tunnel will have on traffic: will it help reduce traffic congestion in the area or, on the contrary, increase it. According to a Seville School of Engineering study published this year on the impact of the Metrocentro expansion, the tram will cause congestion and worsen private transport on the Nervian rail network and increase pollution in the zone. From an environmental point of view, he points out that the balance (cost/benefit) of the tram will only be positive if it achieves “a better model transfer” to the new public transport, i.e., if it is managed, more drivers will leave their private vehicle.
entitled to the aforesaid hearing Traffic microsimulation to assess the impact of metrocentro expansion, by Sergio Garrido Pulido (and tutored by Luis Miguel Romero Pérez), was prepared as a master’s thesis in the Department of Engineering and Materials and Transport of the Higher Technical Engineering School of Seville. The simulation concludes that at the three new tramway crossings “higher levels of pollutant emissions are detected than in the situation before the tramway expansion”, and this is attributed to “congestion and worsening delays”. After introducing a public mode occupying part of its network, traffic becomes private.
The previous socialist city council promoted the extension and defended the “advantages” of this underground structure for the tram, without mentioning the disadvantages in its day. In favor of tunneling. The local government of Antonio Muñoz promised that the tunnel for the tram at the end of 2022 was chosen as indicated by the technical experts, because it would be impossible to turn the surface, because it would reduce the space on the sidewalk and go too close. Interface.
“Technical experts advised against turning the tram on the surface, as it would have a significant impact on the pavement. It would significantly reduce the space for pedestrians, and the tram would circle too close to one of the avenue’s facades, causing danger,” Muñoz said on that date when asked by this newspaper.
Against the subway. The negative effects of the tunnel are that it occupies more space on the public highway, the cost of the work and the longer execution period (two years for 1.4 kilometers was completed instead of one year).
Indalecio de la Lastra, a road engineer and former adviser to IU’s Emacesa, unsuccessfully advocated for the tram to go to the surface instead of tunneling, as he allowed the surface tram network to extend to Cerro del Águila. , no it can be done by subway.
