Bokeška Street in Podgorica will be permanently closed from today, and that decision will not be affected by the results of the study on traffic and city revitalization, the completion of which is still expected. The study that will "analyze and offer possible solutions for the regulation of stationary traffic in the innermost city core, and at the same time consider the possibility of abolishing vehicular traffic" is being done by "Inkoplan", the firm of architect Nikola Drakić, who a few years ago approved the construction of a skyscraper next to the hotel. Podgorica".
With the closure of Bokeška, as recently announced by Mayor Ivan Vuković's office, the phased transformation of the center of Podgorica into a pedestrian zone begins. The "Inkoplan" study, as also announced, will be completed only at the beginning of 2020, but the city administration is sure that there is no reason why the street, popular for going out, would be reopened.
"Of all the central city streets, Bokeška has the smallest number of individual residential buildings. At the same time, it is a street that is recognized as a gathering place for a large number of our fellow citizens. The simplest thing was to start closing this particular street and in terms of reorganizing the traffic regime in the neighboring streets", they told "Vijesta" from the Capital City. Bokeška Street, they added, "will be closed permanently, with a defined usage regime for citizens living in this part of the city, as well as for delivery and emergency vehicles."
Not to repeat Njegoševa
The idea of turning the city center into a pedestrian zone is an old one, they remind from the PG bureau, and add that this idea is part of the strategic documents that define the future directions of the Capital City's development since 2011.
"By creating a larger zone for pedestrians and cyclists, we will do our best to revitalize the city center to the fullest extent," they promise from the Capital City.
The creation of a pedestrian zone in the center of Podgorica is a possibility foreseen by the Spatial Urban Plan (PUP), according to the research "Better traffic, better city", conducted last year by the non-governmental organization Biciklo.me.
In the PUP, one of the special goals of development states that "it is possible to free a part of the city center from vehicular traffic and allow only pedestrian and bicycle traffic".
Sonja Dragović, master of urban planning, told "Vijesta" that "it is great that the city continues to investigate the possibilities of closing the city center to traffic."
"I hope that we will soon receive a study and a plan of measures that will be taken, and I hope that citizens will be able to participate in the creation of that plan. We have been talking and writing for a long time about the fact that Bokeška Street should be closed to car traffic, and as part of the project 'Better traffic, better city', we also did research that led us to the same conclusion. I hope that this measure will really be implemented", she said, noting that "the closing of part of Njegoševa, for example, never really succeeded, nor did it come to life".
Dragović expects that the area will be freed from street parking, and that the next step will be a redesign, which would "truly create a space that looks like a new pedestrian zone" between the Bokeška and Montenegrin National Theaters.
"Of course, with the preservation of the existing greenery," she said.
The study is being done by the company that designed the Burić skyscraper
Can greenery be preserved by a study on turning the center of Podgorica into a zone for pedestrians and cyclists by the firm of architects whose name is associated with the construction of a skyscraper next to the "Podgorica" hotel and the destruction of the park next to the "Morača" Sports Center?
Nikola Drakić is the author of the Detailed Urban Plan Recreational-cultural zone on the banks of the Morača River, southern part. In this plan, as published in the research of the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN CG) and the NGO "Kana ko ako ne arhitekt", in the part about the construction of skyscrapers by the company "Normal" owned by Žarko Burić, it is written that the DUP did not actually contribute to the hotel as a valuable cultural heritage is protected.
"The plan refers to the obvious 'complex urban relations', but does nothing to protect the hotel and the whole of which it is a part from this kind of devastation," the research says.
Architect Andrija Markuš once accused Drakić that he designed the skyscraper, which turned from a seven-story office building into a 12-story building.
Drakić, according to research by CIN and NGO "Kana", for the same DUP, is blamed for not preserving the park around SC "Morača". They state that the park "turned from a popular public recreation center of the community to a building plot for new private facilities."
"The text of the DUP states that the arrangement of this park implies the reconstruction and revitalization of green areas, as well as a redesign that would enable new contents for a 'quiet vacation (...) excluding contents for children's play and active rest'...", state the authors of the research and add that, among other things, the construction of a tennis academy (P+1), a business building (3S+P+5), a catering facility, a spa center (S+Pv+1) is planned, that an upgrade is planned building of Elektrodistribucija. They remind that the 12-story solitaire has already been built...
"This plan practically foresees the destruction of the SC Morača park," it says in that research.
Drakić was a mentor at the university, and then the employer of the current chief city architect, Filip Aleksić. Aleksić was part of Drakić's team of planners who worked on more than 10 urban plans for the center of Podgorica, including blocks E and F, which refer to the part of the city in Bokeška.
It will be years before it is fully closed
After the closure of Bokeška, several more years will pass before the complete closure of the inner center of Podgorica.
"The capital city aims to close the center of Podgorica to traffic to the greatest extent in the coming years," said the PG bureau.
They add that they are aware that they first have to solve the problem of an insufficient number of parking spaces for those who live in that area, and that for the implementation of the plan "serious construction work is needed for parking vehicles in underground garages".
"Depending on the microlocation of the underground garage (garages), it is necessary to plan access roads in such a way that users have unhindered communication from and to the parking area, as well as to enable connection to the communal infrastructure. Therefore, when the planning assumptions are created (remember, the DUP Nova varoš is currently invalid), we will take the necessary steps towards the construction of an underground garage with a larger capacity under Independence Square and, if possible, at several other locations in the center," said the Main of the city, adding that in this way it will create conditions for quality and sustainable further implementation of the project.
They also claim that the participation of civil society organizations and representatives of the academic community is important for them in this procedure.
Starting today, Bokeška will be closed to all types of motor vehicles from Bulevar Stanko Dragojević to Njegoševa Street. Delivery vehicles will be allowed to move from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and the traffic regime in Njegoševa will also be changed, so that the movement of vehicles will be redirected in the opposite direction from the current one, in the direction of Ivan Crnojević Boulevard, across Njegoševa Street to Independence Square and further along the usual routes.
As Drakić said
During the public discussion at the DUP, which was followed by the construction of Burić's skyscraper in 2012, Ljiljana Radević, sister of Kane Radević, said that the construction of the office building will endanger the original work of the hotel "Podgorica". Drakić claimed that he would not.
From the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), while the skyscraper has not yet been converted into a 12-story building, they also indicated that "a seven-story building will visually match the look and beauty of the hotel." Drakić answered that this will not happen and added that it will be useful for the existing hotel - "because it will attract more visitors".
The study will be completed in early 2020.
Nikola Drakić's "Inkoplan" will, according to announcements, complete the study at the beginning of 2020. "Vijesta" from the capital city told "Vijesta" that the company got the job through a public invitation that was published on November 8. It is, as they added, a public invitation for the procurement of a small value. That invitation, however, is not among the news on the website of the Municipality, nor in the section where other documents related to public invitations and tenders are published. The decision was not published on the website, so it is not known whether there were other bidders and who they were, and the value of the agreed work is not known.
As they said from the Capital City, the study will also include architectural and urban planning elements, infrastructure quality analysis, landscape architecture, traffic, VK and electrical installations.
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