New bike lanes planned for Romania’s capital

Bucharest City Hall plans to build several bike lanes in the capital city, on both major boulevards and smaller streets. On the main boulevards, the bike lanes will be built on the roadway, according to Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu. When it comes to secondary roads, where there is no space on the pathway, the bike lanes will be made on the sidewalks. “We have EUR 10 million from the Environment Ministry and we’ll also put money from the state budget for these bike lanes. We started the bidding for the feasibility study, for this project, but no one showed up,” said Oprescu in an interview for local Hotnews.ro. The municipality is currently working on reducing the number of traffic lanes on Calea Victoriei, one of Bucharest’s most important boulevards, to make room for a bicycle lane and to enlarge the sidewalks. Oprescu said some people had criticized him for this project. Other Bucharest citizens have asked him to close the traffic for cars on Calea Victoriei, at least during the weekends, like in the interwar period. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com