Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — A test project has begun along Playa del Carmen’s 10th Avenue that sees only pedestrians along the avenue during evening hours. Mayor Laura Beristain Navarrete says the avenue is open to vehicular traffic from 4:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., after which time, the avenue becomes pedestrian only.
She says the project is a test that will be carried out at the same time as a citizen consultation to determine if the avenue could become a pedestrian walkway. The change projected for this avenue, to make it a “second Fifth Avenue”, is for the benefit of the merchants established along the area. She says the decision was made to do the test pilot project after a meeting with area businessmen and the local delegation of Coparmex (Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana).
Beristain Navarrete pointed out that the project has the support of 80 percent of the merchants on the avenue, however, she mentioned that it needs to be properly consulted to include reactions of local citizens. She says that a citizen consultation will be held in September (no official date provided), so that the citizens themselves can decide on the future of this avenue.
In the meantime, she explained that as of August 31, the avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic from 4:00 p.m. until 4:00 a.m., when it will become a second pedestrian walkway.
The partial closure of this avenue, she said, is added to the Downtown Playa del Carmen project, proposed by the entrepreneurs of Solidaridad to integrate the commercial and tourist area of the first square of the city.
Source: RMN