On a stalemate, the Santa Fe Council sanctioned a communication by which it put on the public agenda a problem that is getting worse: the urban chaos that was germinating, very little by little, in the area surrounding the New Iturraspe Hospital, in the northwest of the city. Whats going on there? Of everything.
In addition to the hospital – one of the most important in the region – it crosses Blas Parera Avenue, always busy, with the Metrobús for the urban bus lines.
In the park in front of the hospital, a massive fair was set up (El Litoral, in a recent tour, warned that there are manteros even on the sidewalk in front of the Iturraspe). Cars and motorcycles stop wherever they want.
In the radius there are also the Mira y López Psychiatric Hospital, the Las Flores Penitentiary Complex, the Sayago and one of the main accesses to the city through National Route Nº11. Street stalls are increasingly proliferating and commercial activity is incessant.
All of this, due to a lack of urban planning or controls, has led to an urban ejido area that is disordered and chaotic, if not anarchic.
What the Council requested of the municipality is to carry out technical and economic feasibility studies for the implementation of planning measures around the new Iturraspe Hospital, at the intersection of Blas Parera Avenue, José I. Gorriti, Beruti and Juramento streets, “including the improvement of Juan B. Justo Park,” says the norm, promoted by Lucas Simoniello (Interblock “Unidos…”).
The list
In feasibility studies, the implementation of safe stops and detention spaces for urban and interurban buses and on-demand transportation vehicles must be evaluated; SUBE card sales and recharge station; equipment for the safe storage of bicycles and motorcycles; accessibility ramps and safe pedestrian paths, and more trees or landscaping.
There will also be a parking lot for private vehicles in the area; a system of accessible public bathrooms; drinking fountains and cell phone charging stations powered by solar photovoltaic energy; children’s play areas; citizen service points, and a plan for the organization of fair activities and street stalls, food trucks, etc.
Mobility
“The area around the New Iturraspe Hospital, in the northwest sector of the city, must be addressed first in terms of mobility. We are talking about a traffic attraction and generator, in the middle of a commercial area revitalized by the improvement of the avenue,” said Simoniello in his remarks at the facility.
The Av. Blas Parera metrobus, a popular attraction for bus users. Credit: Flavio Raina He also spoke about the need for parking for hospital staff vehicles. And he considered the possibility of extending the public bicycle system there, in addition to taxis and remises. “I think all this should be accompanied by a common project, with contributions from the Council and the municipality,” proposed the radical councilor.
Public space
“So much has been done in that environment that the public space is not of sufficient quality: I am talking about the park in front of the hospital, which is not a square, it has no games, just a grove of trees. There is an informal economy experience there; but the public space belongs to everyone, not to some,” Simoniello insisted.
When analyzing the data collected by the Municipality in the 2022 Mobility Survey, it is observed that 27% of the population chooses to seek care in hospitals, with the Iturraspe Hospital being the most selected. “Thus, this becomes an important attraction point for mobility,” warns the sanctioned communication in the arguments.
See alsoThe bus stops returned in the area of the Rosario Criminal Justice Center “It is necessary to consider the design of a mobility network that adequately combines the different ways of getting around and those that may be incorporated in the future in areas such as the one indicated herein, in a global scheme that optimizes mobility from an integrative perspective, promoting travel on foot, by bicycle and by public transport,” he concludes.
