Rome’s Traffic Experiment Ends

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30951, 6 January 1966, Page 10

Rome’s Traffic Experiment Ends

fN Z. Press Assn.—Copyright' ROME. Jan. 4. The Eternal City’s nine-day traffic experiment ended today, having proved th e~ city’s car congestion is a mess even if you remove the cars. United Press International reported. During the period the ban on traffic was in force in 45 acres of Rome's shopping district, boys happily played soccer in the Piazza di Spagna and pedestrians strolled in the middle of streets without risking their lives.

But on the fringe of the “pedestrian island"—the shape of which kept changing daily with the second thoughts of planners—hundreds of police

[struggled with some of the most massive traffic jams Rome had ever had. - Thousands of motorists, misled by contradictory traffic [signs—new <nes had been added but the old ones had not been removed because the experiment was temporarytried to enter one-way streets the wrong way, refused to turn where they were supposed to and argued noisily with traffic police. Many a motorist trusting the inscription on the pavement, “To the Piazza del Popolo,” started up what was now a dead-end street, was ordered by police around the Virgin Mary column in the Piazza di Spagna, turned right in a narrow street turned left in another narrow street and right again to enter a street where a projecting corner prevented speeding buses from seeing him until the last second. He was one block from where he had started, and as far as ever from the Piazza del Popolo.

Almost daily, experimental changes in the limits of the pedestrian island and in the direction of one-way streets made driving a hazard for whoever had failed to read a newspaper carefully before going out.

The one pleasant surprise for the motorist who made his way through the labyrinth was finding some parking space—the other drivers just did not know how to get there.

The owners of the pedestrian island's 2000 shops, whom the reform had been supposed to help, complained bitterly when their exclusive clientele simply failed to show up.

So, the end of the experiment today seemed likely to be greeted with a sigh of relief by everyone. Perhaps the most relieved of all will be Socialist traffic assessor, Mr Antonio Paia, the most criticised man in Rome for the last nine days. Newspapers and independent experts said he bungled badly by cutting the heavy

, How of traffic through the , Piazza di Spagna instead of | confining the traffic ban to the side streets, and thus [spoiling what could have been a good idea. The one real answer to the traffic problem, according to independent experts, is the one contemplated in Rome's j new’ zoning plan—move Govi eminent ministries and other [offices from the walled city to i a new office space belt on the east and south of Rome, leaving the old centre to the tourists.

New subway lines, underpasses and underground parking stations would also help in a city which will issue licence plate number 900,000 this week. But to those who know [ Italian red tape, that is science fiction.

Building Rome's first subway line took 20 years and construction of a second one on the outskirts of the city is proceeding at snail’s pace—and is, of course, causing a traffic jam.