The Order of Architects of Romania (OAR) is fighting to protect three historic Bucharest boulevards, Kiseleff, Prezan and Aviatorilor, where local city planners now envision the construction of underpasses to accommodate traffic congestions. The OAR charges that this ignores pedestrian sidewalks, bicycle lanes, vegetation and the entrance to Herastrau park.
The architects complain that the plan doesn’t take into account the area’s architectural history in the interest of encouraging faster traffic from northern to downtown Bucharest. Other European capitals are going out of their way to protect their historic centers, they say by encouraging high capacity ring roads.
The plan would involve the construction of underpasses of 400 meters for all three avenues and is is related to the construction of underground parking at Charles de Gaulle, which will join an underground commercial space of 8,000 sqm.
The Bucharest chapter of the OAR produced a historical study that maintains that the affected roads are of prime historical importance to the country and have been protected from development in the past. City authorities have not yet specified when the work would begin or how much would cost.
