Task  3      •  How  liveable  and  viable  are  the  urban  streets  in  your  city?      •  What  do  you  think  could  be  done  to  achieve  a  better  balance  of  space,  safety  and  accessibility  across  all  modes  (and  of  course  in  particular  cycling)?    •  Does  your  city  have  a  good  “traffic-­‐life”  balance?  If  so,  please  describe  and/or  post  some  pictures  which  show  such  successful  areas.    •   Do   you   have   examples   of   a   bad   “traffic-­‐life”   balance   of   a   street,   or   problems   in  sharing  the  available  road  space?  What  are  the  general  barriers  and  problems  with  implementing  improvements  in  these  areas?      The  streets  of  Belo  Horizonte  in  central  generally  are  in  good  condition.  When  you  move   into   the   range   of   neighborhoods   outside   the   limtes   the   Contour   Avenue,  towards   the   peripheral   areas   can   not   say   the   same.   In   general   the   outskirts   of  Brazilian  cities  have  a  much  worse  urban  ufraestrutura  than  the  central  regions.    On  the  sidewalks  or  tours,  we  have  a  different  situation.  Today  Belo  Horizonte  has  specific  standards  that  are  part  of  a  standardization  of  sidewalks  plan  that  is  already  in   place   in   some   neighborhoods,   including   accessibility   for   the   disabled   and  direcionadoras  tracks  for  the  blind.    But  this  implementation  is  restricted  in  some  areas  of  the  city,  not  extending  to  the  other  yet.   In  my  neighborhood,   for  example,   in   the  eastern  area  of   the  capital,   the  property  owner  is  responsible  for  sidewalk  directly  and  not  is  still  required  to  use  the  standardization  of  sidewalks.    In   large  avenues  and  urbanization   traffic   corridors   is   a   statement  by   the  City  Hall  which  has  specific  projects  for  streets  and  sidewalks,  also  including  bike  paths  that  since  2010  have  been  gaining  ground  in  the  city,  culturally  and  physically  through  implementadação  Program  Pedal  Bh,  already  cited  and  detailed  in  other  tasks.    Despite  having  a  satisfactory  design,  which  allows  walk  in  a  nice  way,  the  quality  of  the  tours  in  general  in  the  city  is  bad  and  accessibility  is  hampered  by  the  existence  of   numerous   obstacles   and   gaps   that   hinder   the   free   walking   pedestrian,   except  areas  central  and  most  privileged  financially.    There  are  also  a  lot  of  areas  of  conflict  between  cars,  pedestrians,  cyclists,  cars  and  cargo  vehicles  for  public  services,  among  others.    

I  think  this  Belo  Horizonte  sidewalks  standardization  program  should  be  extended  to   the  whole   city   integrated  with   the  planning  of  Urbana  PLANMOB  Mobility  Plan  and  Pedal  program  Bh,  ensuring  accessibility  for  all  users  including  pedestrians  and  cyclists.    I  also  think  that  we  should  have  more  attention  to  pedestrian  so  you  can  walk  safely  and  quality  in  the  city.    I   think  that   first  must  be  studied  regions  of  greater  complexity  of   traffic,   including  large  corridors  and  connections  between  different  modes  adopted  here.  Signaling  is  a  major   problem   in   our   city,   the   bike   paths   for   example   are   very   poorly  marked,  often  restricted  to  demarcation  on  the  track.    Here  in  Belo  Horizonte,  I  think  it  is  essential,  in  addition  to  improvements  in  urban  infrastructure   for   transport   and   pedestrians   and   the   implementation   of   existing  urban  mobility  planning,  the  creation  of  a  broad  education  campaign  that  works  the  spread   of   good   coexistence   practices   among   citizens   the   city,   whether   users   of  public  transport,  drivers,  cyclists,  pedestrians  or  merchants.    It   must   evolve   in   education   and   understanding   and   the   limits   for   each   range   of  users.   Long   desesrespeito   the   limits   proposed   by   the   plans   and   have   difficulty  dealing   with   various   personal   interests   to   the   detriment   of   a   more   collective  thinking  of  the  use  of  the  city.  In  the  case  of  bicycle  paths,  we  have  great  dificulade  acceptance  and  respect  those  limits.    We   can   see   some   pictures   showing   some   good   and   bad   examples   of   bike   lanes  implemented  in  Belo  Horizonte:    

 Disrespect  the  area  designed  for  bike  path  

 

   

Bike  lane  without  continued  

 Central  Stations  MOVE  (BRT)  -­‐  Cycle  Route  in  BH  -­‐  good  example  

 

 Bike  path  in  BH  -­‐  good  example  

   

 Questionable  location  of  bike  path  

   

 Modes  of  complexity  -­‐  Lack  of  planning  for  cyclists  

 Bike  path  in  BH    

   

 Disrespect  for  Bike  Path  

 

 Bike  path  in  BH  -­‐  good  example  

 

 Bad  interface  modal  trasporte  and  bus  stop  

     

 Delimitation  of  lack  of  space  for  cyclist  

 

 Bike  path  in  BH  -­‐  good  example  

 Signaling  lack  of  Bike  -­‐  Bike  path  on  the  same  level  as  the  walk  

   

One  of   the  biggest  mistakes  being   committed   in  urban  Belo  Horizonte  planning   is  the  lack  of  dialogue  between  the  various  sectors,  sectoral  organ,  City  Hall,  and  state  authorities  responsible  for  plans,  projects  and  works  in  the  city.  It  is  clearly  shown  that  when  a  project  is  implemented  often  do  not  is  checked  which  planning  for  that  particular   areas.   What   the   Mobility   Plan   is   forecasting?   What   the   Master   Plan  allows?   What   were   once   the   projects   undertaken   for   these   areas?   Which   urban  infrastructure   are   present   there   and   that   interfaces   with   the   new   soluçnoe  proposals?  What  the  community   longing  for  this  area?  These  situations  have  to  be  better  defined  before  implementation  of  any  project,  we  need  to  establish  dialogue  with  the  planning  and  thought  exercised  throughout  the  city.