Finding a parking space has become an increasingly complicated task in the Arrabal. The neighbors say that it can currently take between 40 and 50 minutes to find a place, a situation that especially affects a neighborhood where, they say, more than 60% of homes do not have a garage. Added to this is the arrival of vehicles from residents of the right bank, who are looking for parking in this area due to the difficulties of parking on the other side of the Ebro or, directly, because they have to find a free space here for payment.
Faced with this situation, the spokeswoman for the PSOE, Lola Ranera, and the Asociación Vecinal Tío Jorge Arrabal have called on the Zaragoza City Council to study the project proposed for the esplanade of the Estación del Norte. It is an area of more than 10,000 square meters currently without defined use where the neighbors propose to build an underground parking lot and take advantage of the surface for new facilities. The initiative was unanimously approved by the District Board more than a year ago, but, according to Ranera, they have not yet received a response.
Tejedor has specified in this sense that the proposal contemplated a car park of between 300 and 400 spaces, on which the expansion of the Civic Center, the Center for the Elderly and the District Board could later be built, in addition to recovering the old canopy of the station as a space for leisure and activities. The number of floors would depend on the technical conditions of the construction, although Tejedor believes that there are possibilities to develop the project.
MORE HOUSING AND MORE DIFFICULTIES
Neighbors also warn that the pressure on parking may increase in the coming months. This autumn the delivery of the Aloha Pirineos homes, on Pirineos Avenue itself, with more than 300 apartments for young people, is planned. According to Tejedor, the residential will have parking spaces for approximately a third of the apartments, so the arrival of new residents may further increase the demand for parking in the surroundings.
The most affected areas, according to the neighborhood association, are the surroundings of Sobrarbe and Pirineos Avenue and Balsas de Ebro Viejo, where more than 70% of the homes do not have a garage. Tejedor has also proposed that, in addition to the North Station, the possibility of building another underground car park on Peña Oroel street be studied to alleviate the situation of Balsas.
Ranera, for his part, has called on the Government of Natalia Chueca to give a response to the North Station project and to find a solution for the neighborhood. The proposal would allow, they stress, to address at the same time the parking deficit and the lack of new spaces and equipment for the Arrabal.
