The aim of the works that are going to be undertaken in Toledo, under the framework of the European project CONNECTED CITIES of the Community Initiative INTERREG IIIC, is to analyse and evaluate the transport needs in the metropolitan area of the city.
The actions will be aimed at studying the main transport means and their relation with mobility matters in the several zones of the city and its metropolitan area.
This work has been developed taking into account Municipal
Ordenation Plan (POM) just as it has been approved by the Government Commission of Toledo City Council, though it still has to be approved by the Regional Government.
The city of Toledo is considered World Heritage; its exceptional architectural whole is protected and regulated by the Special Plan for the Historic Old Centre.
Toledo has a population of 77.000 inhabitants and is the seat of the administrative capital of Castilla La Mancha. It is placed in a central growing zone of the Iberian Peninsula.
The City Council of Toledo has developed the Municipal
Ordenation Plan (POM) with the aim of rationalising the possible growth of Toledo during the next 10 years by developing new axes of and, especially, by covering areas that are not populated nowadays in the axe East-West (Benquerencia, Vega Alta, Vega Baja, Buena Vista, Peraleda).
The transport means must be adapted to these new needs. This presentation is just a brief analysis whose aim is to expose the main problems emerged, to offer some possible solutions and to inform all the citizens and social agents on this situation.
Toledo probably has the greatest protected architectural whole in Europe, full of historic buildings. The city is very well conserved and the urban regulations have the aim of protecting such marvellous heritage. The city owns a special preservation plan that intends to conserve and maintain active the use of this heritage in spite of all the difficulties that can be found in a millenary old city. Social: population ageing and accessibility obstacles for aged people. Economic: lost of the traditional economic activity and creation of reduced zones for tourist sites. Safety: fires, emergency services and other risks.
AVE - High Speed Train, Mechanized Pedestrian Accesses, Hospital, Exhibition Palace, High Capacity Roads Networks, Municipal Territory Ordenation Plan (POM), Tram and New bus services.
Nowadays the city of Toledo has a branch of the Spanish High Speed Railway Network, known as AVE. The station is placed in Vega Alta, close to the old railway Neo-Mudejar station and to the old historic city centre. The high speed train, AVE, connects Toledo with Madrid (Atocha railway station) just in 35 minutes, without stopping. This infrastructure poses a future problem for the city of Toledo since the new train AVE Madrid-Lisboa will not stop in Toledo. Toledo station will not be linked to the main railway transport network.
In order to improve its accessibility, Toledo has created two new access ways by installing mechanised stairs in walled-parts of the city. One of the accesses is in the western part, close to the County Hall. This stair is working from four years ago and its positive result is reflected on the huge number of users. The second access is placed in the northern part, next to the river Tajo, but it is still under construction. In short it will provide access to the city from the future Exhibition Palace that part of the old historic centre placed next to Zocodover Square. These actions will significantly improve the pedestrian accessibility to the city, otherwise the access to the historic zone will be very difficult.
The new general hospital of Toledo will allow to cover the current and the future sanitary demands not only of the own city, but also those of the surrounding municipalities. This sanitary centre will count on the highest diagnosis and therapeutic technologies nowadays available. The works of this new hospital will be carried out on a plot placed in the south, exactly within the 5th phase of the quarter Santa María de Benquerencia. Budget: 370 M€.
Communications improvement in the most populated zones that are been developing in the axe East-West. Zone: Benquerencia, Vega Alta, Vega Baja and Hospital. Distance to cover: between 12 and 15 Km. Number of stops: between 20 and 25. Passengers estimated per year: 4 million (year 2008). Perceived execution level of difficulty: Middle. Infrastructures costs: 75 M€. Vehicles: 25 M€. Total: 100 M€.
Reference Model: Parla (Madrid). 138 M€. (Similar length and technical difficulty). Nº passengers/year (2008): 4 million.
Under the framework of this project, it will be studied the possibility to create a metropolitan transport network between the city of Toledo and the most important zones of the metropolitan area. It will be analysed the possible population evolution taking into account the current town-planning projects and the population growth experimented mainly by the immigration.
Toledo is the city with the greatest historic centre in Europe. The future of the city depends on the existing heritage preservation, the recovery of the buried or bad preserved heritage and its revalorisation (Late-Roman and Visigothic in the zone of Vega Baja), the establishment of regulations for the future development (POM) and the transport means adaptation to these needs. This work, in the framework of the European project Connected Cities co-funded by the programme INTERREG IIIC, has also the aim of studying new European directives and good practices and disseminating the results.
