BREST, 30 June (BelTA) – A project to improve urban mobility is running in the Belarusian city of Pinsk under the Cross-Border Cooperation Program Poland-Belarus-Ukraine, project manager and Head of the Brest Local Fund for Regional Development Viktoriya Radchuk told BelTA.
The project was named SUMCITYNET. It will run in more than 20 cities in Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland. Pinsk will be working in partnership with Ukraine's Uzhgorod and the Belarusian Union of Transport Workers. “The main goal of the project is to improve urban mobility: study the experience of foreign colleagues and carry out research and other activities aimed at the development of the transport system of the city,” Viktoriya Radchuk said.
Urban mobility means traveling from one place to another taking the most convenient way by private of public transport. “Firstly, the project provides for improving the traffic control system and enhancing it with software to regulate the traffic. This will help reduce the number of traffic jams, noise, and emissions. Secondly, we should motivate people to use more eco-friendly means of transport,” Viktoriya Radchuk noted.
The EU will earmark around €103,000 for the implementation of the project in Pinsk. The Pinsk City Hall will allocate another €11,500 from the local budget. At the first stage of the project, specialists will analyze the drawbacks of urban mobility in Pinsk for various groups of people. They will study the quality of the road network, public transport and its infrastructure, and parking lots, focusing on the safety of pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The experts will find out which routes local residents choose for various purposes. The results of the survey will help draw up a sustainable urban mobility plan for Pinsk.
The second stage provides for upgrading the transport infrastructure. For example, plans are in place to synchronize the traffic control system, reduce traffic at some intersections, install additional traffic lights with pedestrian call buttons, ramps, bike racks, and lower curbs. Apart from this, Pinsk will get three children's traffic playgrounds to teach kids about road safety and traffic rules.
The cross-border project SUMCITYNET will be running through April 2022.
