2023-12-11 21:21:26
Barcelona There is no great work in Barcelona that is not accompanied by controversy. Nor the extension of the L8 line of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC), which must join Plaça Espanya and Gràcia stations in less than 10 minutes and which after more than 20 years in stand-by will begin its decisive section from January 8. In this case, the point of controversy is one of the collateral damages that the work entails: the occupation of part of the Joan Miró Park – one of the few green lungs in this area of the Eixample – to locate the tunnel boring machine’s logistics area, a key space for the works.
Affecting the works of the L8
Land extraction gallery
Extraction gallery
of land
Extraction gallery
of land
As soon as they knew that this park was the chosen space, the neighbors mobilized to prevent it. After months of protests and negotiations, this Thursday the Generalitat and the Barcelona City Council made public the final proposal which, although it significantly reduces the impact on the park, does not excuse it. Thus, if the initial proposal planned to occupy 8,800 square meters of the park and entailed the loss of 178 trees, the project that the two institutions announced this afternoon to the neighbors will affect 5,300 square meters and 118 trees. In addition, the impact on both the Joan Miró library and the Ernest Lluch Institute is a bit further away.
In order to minimize the impact on the Joan Miró Park, the Generalitat and the City Council choose to divide the tunnel boring machine’s logistics area into two more areas: a new section of the Gran Via at the intersection with Vilamarí – which will house the main warehouse of the joists for the tunnel -, and a third nearby space that the City Council will specify in the coming weeks and that will host the general deposit of other materials for the work. In the park, the earth extraction well and the offices will follow, which will be located on top of the park’s rainwater tank. All in all, they point out from the two institutions, it leads to an additional cost of six million euros in works that have a budget of 430 million.
However, from the Department of Territory and from the City Council, this last proposal is considered the “most reasonable” after having analyzed, and discarded, the rest of the alternatives presented by the residents. The transfer to the other corner of the park – the one that touches Carrer Tarragona – has been ruled out because of the impact it would have on the rainwater tank, which cannot withstand heavy loads and which, in addition, would be disabled. As for the proposals to bring the logistics area to the Gran Via or the Parallel, they have been rejected because of the impact they would have on the mobility of the city. And the last proposal put forward by the neighbors and which was to occupy a space at the Fair has not been taken into consideration because of the extra cost it would have – around 16 million euros – and because, according to municipal sources, they do not want to put themselves at risk “an engine of prosperity for the city” as is the Fair.
Despite the proposed changes, the project that the two institutions have presented this Monday has not convinced the neighbors during a meeting of nearly two hours. Consulted by the ARA, they point out that they leave “disappointed” because they consider that not enough effort has been made to find an alternative to the park and it has been preferred to damage a key green area of the district before the Fair.
Technical inspections of buildings
Although the official start of the works will be on January 8, from the Government and the City Council it is pointed out that it will not be until the summer that the park will begin to be occupied because there are other preliminary works before that. The aim, they point out, is to gradually reduce the occupied space as the progress of the works, which the Generalitat would like to have completed in five years, allows. Among the works that will be done soon there is also the inspection from spring of 13,500 buildings in the city to check that there are no previous damages and that the tunnel boring machine can work without suffering.
The new route of the L8 between Plaça Espanya and Gràcia
station
Clinical Hospital
station
Clinical Hospital
station
Clinical Hospital
Connecting the Ferrocarrils del Vallès lines with that of Anoia through the middle of Barcelona – which crosses the Baix Llobregat – will mean a new tunnel of 4 kilometers and three new stations at Hospital Clínic, Francesc Macià and Gràcia, in addition to the remodeling of the current ones in Plaça Espanya and Gràcia. The tunnel will be made with a variable depth that will range from 15 meters to a maximum of 50, and the Generalitat is confident that the underground drilling will not cause as many problems as in the case of the L9, since there are not as many material changes and points out that it will be a “more grateful” terrain for the TBM.
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