The Avenue des Corrientes opens a new face Saturday and becomes pedestrian night – 04/11/2019

Saturday, with a party, the Corrientes Avenue will allow for the first time its new layout: pedestrian at night and with exclusive lanes for public transport. While Monday will be the biggest test, with the transit of a working day and the usual manifestations at the crossing of Corrientes and Callao.

After 15 months of work, in which the avenue looked more like a workshop than a cultural hub, Corrientes will work with two lanes for public transport and two for private vehicleswho can run up to 19 hours. From then until 2 am this last section will become pedestrian.

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The space reserved for groups and taxis will be located on the right side of the avenue, between Junín and Libertad streets. It will work every day for 24 hours. Meanwhile, on the left side, between Callao and LibertadPrivate transport will travel within the allotted time, which will then give rise to pedestrians. A central flowerbed will officiate as a divider.

From 7 pm on Monday, we will also begin to respond to what, a few hours before the inauguration and at the neighbors, still raises uncertainty: how will we articulate this new scheme when there will be some of the clbadic manifestations of Corrientes and Callao? When he becomes a pedestrian, what will happen to traffic in the neighboring streets? Will it be overloaded? and what will happen to Junín, which will function as Corrientes' last income?

In recent weeks, with the progress of the work, those who crossed these blocks of Corrientes already used this space to walk in advance. So even without inauguration, the avenue began to be experienced as a pedestrianwith office workers having lunch at stonemason, Rappi and Glovo dispensers waiting for their orders, groups of teenagers strolling out of school and children walking hand in hand with their mothers and their fathers.

Although most of the time, everything is in chaos: merchants coexist with dust and low sales; the neighbors accompany their days to the sound of exercises; and the garajistas spend their hours in front of the television in front of the lack of customers. Wherever you look, there was mountains of rubble, pipes and labyrinths exposed fences to enter a restaurant or bookstore.

"We remember Larreta's mother all the time"replied to Clarin The theatrical producer Carlos Rottemberg asked him how it worked while Corrientes was conditioned. At his side, the president of the Argentine Association of Theater Entrepreneurs, Sebastián Blutrach, was more diplomatic: "The work was painful and caused collateral damage, as the decrease in the number of spectators by the discomfort of visiting the region, but we think that there will now be an improvement.

Rottemberg, Blutrach and filmmaker Juan José Campanella were summoned by the Buenos Aires government for a press presentation on the launch of the Corrientes pedestrian. "I think with this work the avenue can be a walk againas it was a moment ago. Everyone – theater owners, shops and restaurants – we must increase the bet. The ground has already been created (due to the re-evaluation of the avenue), we now have to bring the teams together for this to happen, "added Campanella, who is currently building a theater hall in Paraná street.

The project to divide Corrientes and allocate the left side to pedestrians at night and the right to public transportation It was announced last October. Then, the project attracted the support of the theater businessmen, the rejection of the owners of the garages and the doubts of the planners. For its realization, it was necessary before it goes through the legislature of Buenos Aires.

"We support public policies that put the pedestrian center stage, but in the case of Corrientes, we consider that it is a priority to improve public transport, especially the subways," he said. at the time the lawmaker of the opposition, Marcelo Guouman. He also added: "In the case of line B, it is necessary to improve the frequencies and to align the service program with that of the pedestrian traffic, which ends at 2".

The need to extend the metro service Rottemberg also stressed that it "confirmed the efforts of the government to achieve this goal". The head of government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, also present at the meeting for the press, explained that for the moment it was impossible because they had to have a window of time – the metro is active and out of service – to perform work in the underground network. Although he did not mention a possible optimization of frequencies.

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The head of government compared the transformation of Corrientes with the initiatives already implemented in the Gran Vía of Madrid and Times Square in New York and said the goal was to reposition Corrientes as one of the great cultural and entertainment attractions of Argentina and Latin America. He said: "We combine the largest concentration of commercial theaters, an extensive network of bookstores and our own gastronomic offer with traditional pizzerias." Years ago, because of his condition, Corrientes did not invite us to walk. reverse. "

The total cost of walking and improving the surrounding streets was $ 275 million.

How to enter the car parks of the Avenue?

• Vehicles wishing to enter the car parks on the right must join the exclusive track before Junín or from the cross roads.
• Vehicles wishing to enter the car parks on the left may do so by general traffic lanes.
• From Monday to Friday, from 11 am to 4 pm, the travel restriction in the court area applies. As a result, you will not be able to access Corrientes Avenue from Paraná, Talcahuano, Uruguay and Libertad.
• At intersections and intersections, special traffic lights will be installed to prohibit or allow entry into exclusive lanes.

An opening with festivities

The Saturday party It will start at age 18 and there will be stages in each block between Callao and Cerrito. The actors of the companies who have their works in the theaters of Corrientes give tickets in the street.

In addition, there will be shows that will include, among others, the Teatro Colón orchestra.