From Wednesday, quite significant traffic changes in the center of Riga. Tērbatas Street in Riga in the section from Elizabetes to Matīsa Street will be closed to vehicle traffic. Preparations will be made to make Tērbatas Street available to pedestrians and traders for a whole month from Friday.
By dedicating Tērbatas Street to pedestrians and creating the atmosphere of a festival in it, the aim is to reduce the post-crisis economic consequences for entrepreneurs.
Hope – the number of buyers will increase. For example, in the city restaurant “Lapsas māja” it is said that when one day in winter, Tērbatas Street was experimentally turned into a pedestrian street, then the first and second floors of the café were full of steepness.
Cafes and restaurants are going to turn Tērbatas Street into a large summer terrace. There will be a special offer for food and drinks. “It is also quite difficult for stores in July and August. Tērbatas Street is not the most popular in these months, ”says Anita Dāme, a representative of Lapsas mājas.
Latvia’s 150 home producers, designers and artists in the decorative goods salon “Riija” hope that the missing tourist clientele will be replaced by locals.
“We will meet people who did not know about us before. Now, finding out that there is a pedestrian street, something new, you will come to see it from another Latvian city, and become our client, ”hopes Evija Jonuša, the head of the design salon“ Riija ”.
In order to make Tērbatas Street more pedestrian-friendly, 14 green areas will be created. Will bring the trees in pots, flowers in boxes. Such as the small jungle. Citizens will be able to sit in them. And an extensive cultural program throughout the month, scattered in epidemiologically safe islets on different sections of Tērbatas Street.
“There will also be a market for green goods. Young people from the Riga Dome Choir School will take part. Motor Museum with its own cycling program. For example, at the opening on July 17, there will be a group “Carnival Youth” with film melodies. Mobile people will have yoga classes, ”says Baiba Šmite, Head of the Culture Department.
The 1st trolleybus running on Tērbatas Street will be closed for a month. People will be able to access their home by car and entrepreneurs will be able to deliver goods by entering from the crossroads on the one hand.
“On the other hand, for those residents who have bought a monthly subscription or have a resident’s card and so far left the cars overnight on Tērbatas Street, it will not be possible to do so, because the parking lots will be closed from 15 July at 20.00 in the evening. They will be able to leave the car on the perpendicular streets, ”explains Rudīte Reveliņa, Head of the Traffic Organization and Project Management Department of the RD Traffic Department.
The idea of Tartu as a pedestrian street has been discussed for several years. Time and money have been spent on theoretical research, but now it will finally be possible to obtain real, comparative data.
“Within the framework of this project, we plan to install sensors. We will measure air quality. We will measure sound pollution, the number of visitors, in order to obtain more serious data for deciding on this concept as such – whether Tērbatas Street is as viable as a pedestrian street, ”says Jānis Belkovskis, Acting Head of the Riga City Construction Board.
In recent years, the center of Riga as a whole has not only lost its population, but also some entrepreneurs have closed their stalls. The reasons – unattractive environment for walks to make purposeful purchases, lack of parking lots, dominance of large shopping centers.
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