Tuesday was a happy day for Nicolás McCrank. He says he was in his work office when, in the morning, his phone was inundated with messages and calls. There were so many of them that he had to attend to them, but they were all about the same thing: congratulations for the completion of his project of so many years and encouragement for him to go there. They actually asked him to go to the Parque Sarmiento cycling track which, after seven years and on his initiative, was inaugurated without notice or ceremonies, but which all the residents of
Saavedra and Villa Urquiza
celebrate.
McCrank is a data analyst focused on e-commerce. He lives in San Cristóbal and is also a father and a determined cyclist. For eight years he has been training in
Parque Sarmiento
, more than thirteen kilometers from his house. Shortly after starting to train there, he brought the solution to the problem that everyone was complaining about:
a professional cycling track inside the park
to prevent cyclists from circulating in the vicinity, which generated accidents and
fights between cyclists, motorists, pedestrians and neighbors.
At 10 in the morning on Tuesday, when his phone began to ring with so many messages received and some calls he was able to answer and others he couldn't, he asked his boss if he could leave the office to go home, look for his road bike and with it go to Sarmiento Park to
ride the track for the first time pedaling with friends
and with all the other cyclists who came to celebrate having achieved something important after a long time.
“I didn't know anything. My phone started exploding with messages and photos and videos of cyclists riding the track. There was no prior warning, no one knew, only those who passed by. The inauguration is a relief for everyone, because we all have a friend or a cyclist acquaintance who was involved in an accident at some point,” says McCrank.
In April 2017, McCrank presented, within the framework of the
BA Choose
program (a citizen participation initiative, through which residents proposed infrastructure and other projects to the City Government for consideration), a project to construct a runway cycling in the interior contour of Sarmiento Park. Not only was his project voted for in commune 12 (Coghlan, Saavedra, Villa Pueyrredón and Villa Urquiza), but also by residents of other communes, and thus his proposal
was the fourth most voted for in the program.
All kinds of obstacles arose in the completion of the project.
Clarín
reported in March on the topic: lack of budget for the BA Elect program, the transfer of responsibility for construction to the Buenos Aires Sports Secretariat, which had its priority on the infrastructure of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games; then the change in management at the end of 2019, then the pandemic. Meanwhile, countless conflicts between area residents and cyclists were commonplace. There were also accidents that, in some cases, involved
deaths and serious injuries.
That cars and buses parked in the wrong places or drove at high speed, that cyclists drove recklessly, that pedestrians crossed incorrectly. For six years, the responsibilities were many and the definitive solution was not finalized. In 2023, it seemed that everything would come to fruition for the approximately 1,200 daily cyclists who usually train and pedal in the area:
the cycling track began to be built and had an opening date for November 10.
An extension of 3.2 kilometers and a width of six meters, with one lane in each direction, signage, lighting and two bridges that avoid any crossing with pedestrians and cars made up the plan of a model cycling track that would surpass the only one that, until that time, At that time, there was in the City, the KDT Circuit of Manuel Belgrano Park, in Palermo, just over a kilometer long.
On November 10 of last year, however, it was not inaugurated. Delays in the completion of some details of signage and retaining fences were the first reason why it could not be opened to the public. With the arrival of summer, the holiday camp for the little ones meant that, for example, some school buses
parked on the pavement of the track that was practically ready for its inauguration.
On Sunday, residents of Saavedra gathered on the outskirts of the park, on Crisolucion Larralde Avenue, to protest against the presence of
platoons of cyclists
. Every time the traffic light on Larralde and Ceretti turned red, the neighbors occupied the pedestrian path to display banners:
“The streets of the neighborhood are not a track!”, “We all respect the traffic rules!”
The president of the Saavedra neighborhood association, Alberto Rodríguez, declared: “We seek to stop here and make this problem visible. Cyclists are tough people when you talk one on one, but you get into a bunch and they tell you that
they can't stop on corners, even if the light is red. If you can't stop, you can't be here."
What finally seems like the solution came on Tuesday, when the track opened to the public. To enter, each cyclist was charged a fee of
$530
which, as it turned out, responds to the formation of a budget for maintenance. At the moment, use is authorized from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., as there is still lighting work to be completed.
“The track was very good and very challenging: it has curves, climbs, slopes, descents and straights. We cyclists will have to be very attentive and use all our skills to be able to overcome all of this. Now there are only details to accommodate so that everything is 100%. Now we have to enjoy being able to train safely and that the neighbors are safe too,” McCrank concluded.
S.C.