Valencia begins Colón Street overhaul: wider sidewalks, quieter asphalt, and a race to finish before Christmas

The project at a glance

Valencia’s Colón Street, the city’s busiest retail thoroughfare, entered its biggest transformation in three decades on Monday 15 June. The €2 million project covers 21,900 square metres — from the Porta de la Mar end through Plaza de los Pinazo and into Calle Cerdán de Tallada — and will widen pavements for pedestrians, install 12,000 sq m of sound-absorbing asphalt, and add dedicated traffic lights for bicycles. The new road surface is expected to cut noise by up to 10 decibels and reduce pollutant emissions by 20%.

Every work causes inconvenience, you have to be a little patient, but we want — and it is the goal we are working towards with great rigour — the works to be finished for the Christmas campaign.

Timeline and execution

Two teams began operating simultaneously on Monday: one on the even-numbered pavement from Porta de la Mar, the other on the odd side from the Xàtiva Street start. A third crew will join at the end of July and through August, focusing on the central Plaza de los Pinazo. The asphalting phase is scheduled between 25 October and 6 December, wedged between Valencia’s half marathon and full marathon. The council does not expect works to extend beyond 5 December, and some technical estimates point to 30 November, well ahead of the Christmas shopping peak.

Minimising disruption

The local government insists the street will remain open to traffic throughout, with access maintained for residents and businesses. Works on opposite pavements will never face each other, and asphalting will be done at night. Councillor for Urban Planning Juan Giner said the council will stay “in permanent contact” with residents’ and traders’ associations to solve problems quickly. Borja Ávila, president of the Historic Centre Merchants’ Association, asked for transverse streets to be affected as little as possible and praised the installation of bollards to stop delivery trucks and cars from parking on the widened, nearly flush pavements.

We have to change that mentality that motorcyclists park right at the door of places. You’ll have to walk three or four minutes, but that’s okay.

The ‘Valentia’ brand and wider plans

The Colón revamp inaugurates the ‘Valentia’ urban identity, a seal designed by Valencian artist David Cercós that will mark all strategic transformations of the historic centre. Mayor María José Catalá presented the scheme as the first piece of the larger Plan Valentia, which will later take in the redevelopment of Plaza San Agustín and the Town Hall square, currently at various stages of planning.

A city of works

Colón is not the only site. Coinciding works on the Gran Vía Marqués del Túria start on 22 June, while the long-running Pérez Galdós–Giorgeta avenue project continues until at least December. From 25 June to 30 August, the metro tunnel between Alameda and Marítim stations (lines 5 and 7) will close for rehabilitation, prompting opposition calls to reinforce bus routes 19, 32, 93 and 71.