The streets of Galeria de Paris and Cândido dos Reis, in the historic center of Porto, will become pedestrianized after an intervention that begins this Monday, October 13th, and is expected to last six months.
In a statement from Porto City Council, still led by the independent Rui Moreira, it states that the intervention starts this second “at Rua de Cândido dos Reis and will last an estimated two months”, but “by the end of the month, and with an execution period of six months, given the greater technical complexity, the work will extend to Rua da Galeria de Paris”.
At stake are “two requalification interventions in the heart of downtown, in the Movida area, to transform the streets Cândido dos Reis and Galeria de Paris into primarily pedestrian spaces”, with the work being carried out by the municipal company Gestão e Obras do Porto (GO Porto).
According to the municipality, “the start date of the interventions was defined in conjunction with local traders to reduce constraints during the period of greatest tourist and commercial influx during the summer”, ensuring that “during the period of works, local businesses will remain in operation, guaranteeing the daytime and nighttime vitality of the area”.
The intervention on Rua Cândido dos Reis “corresponds to the second phase of a pedestrianization project in the historic center, which has already included the streets of Santa Teresa and Fábrica” and involves “the lifting and replacement of the road surface at sidewalk level, the removal of bollards and the resizing of the tree casings, adjusting them to the current size of the roots”, at a cost of 251 thousand euros.
“The space will become predominantly pedestrian, maintaining the coexistence between pedestrians and authorized vehicles, as in the streets already requalified”, the documents read, and “the reorganization of the pavement and the elevation of the roadway will reinforce the urban continuity of the area, standardizing materials and dimensions up to the adjacent intersections”.
As for Rua da Galeria de Paris, whose work is scheduled to begin at the end of this month, it will be the subject of “a profound requalification, with an execution period of 180 days”, transforming the artery “into a street with better conditions for pedestrian circulation, but will also intervene in buried infrastructures, such as the sanitation network, rainwater branches and the Porto Digital infrastructure”.
“The project rescues the historical design from the beginning of the 20th century, recreating the pattern of the old Praça de D. Pedro — currently Praça da Liberdade — in Portuguese pavement made of white and black stone”, but “the existing sidewalks in a small cube of granite and limestone will be preserved and integrated into the new design, and the old parking areas will become pedestrian spaces”.