Trade is struggling, and it is estimated that more than half of the shops are in the red. And now comes two new challenges; the hospital moves to Hjelset and the city of Molde is preparing a “transition strategy”. It is not good to say which one of the two will damage the center of Molde the most!
We have already had a good look at the strategic work of the consultants. In November – according to the original schedule – the installation will be delivered and will show the center of Molde in the future in terms of cars, pedestrians, cyclists, parking and traffic-free islands. In other words – considering the current trading situation; it is a terrible hour for the commercial part of the city.
Participation
The whole thing is led by the city’s citizens’ laboratory; Stop forward. Despite the fact that the largest space in the city is at street level in Storgata, municipal/public poverty seems not to have found its way here and left its deadly footprints. Because the millions here are still pouring in – much to the delight of the consulting industry. In this case, only two million kroner, but it will do.
Almost on an assembly line, presentations, workshops, group assignments, intakes, hearings and reports are produced. The use of money can only be defended if the work provides concrete solutions and are implemented for the happiness of the city’s residents.
Millions have contributed to thinking deeply about the use of imaginary rock filling when the ferry lease is gone in a few tens of years (maybe!) or playing with funny ideas about Lundavang in the future – if we forget all the economic laws – which still appear in the end. What a surprise!
For those who think that those below drank a large glass of worm juice for breakfast, I can reassure them. It is as it says in the recipe; one teaspoon is enough!
More bikes!
The reader should also not be tempted to make conclusions after a few paragraphs, and it is good to state what “everyone” agrees on:
1) The city center must be better arranged for cyclists
2) Heavy traffic must move away from Storgata
To establish agreement on these two points, we do not need extensive studies. It is already worth noting that the Molde municipal ordinance – the basis of the competition itself – defines the area that the transfer strategy must cover; that is the center of Molde and the Roseby Trading Areas – that is, Bjørnsonhuset in the west and the Roseby shopping district in the east. There are many signs that the work/consultants here have already gotten lost in an inaccessible byway. Dead end.
All the focus in the work is directed to the center of the city – this car is the hell that is brought. The Roseby area – Norway’s 12th largest shopping center surrounded and divided by busy roads – is hardly touched in the work.
Roseby – the mecca of the car
As for the car congestion, you won’t find it especially around Storgata, but at Roseby – which is actually part of the mission! The area is like a separate kingdom – and it still has King Olav (Thon) who knows more than anyone that the biggest buyers are – they come by car. If the car did not serve the shopping centre, Thon would in fact have taken away all the free parking spaces overnight.
Molde is perhaps unique in several ways. Some would argue that we are unique in that we have found ourselves in a position where the busiest road in the city (15,000 cars a day) passes through the shopping center – apparently encouraged by Moa!
If you visit Coop Mega on Friday, you will understand why the area around the old Storsenteret is said to fund the Christmas table for the car painters in Molde. And that might be saying a lot!
If that’s not convincing enough; access to Vinmonopolet must be considered one of the most effective contributions to the abstinence movement!
And you are not yet convinced; visit Roseby in the panic days before Christmas. You don’t have to believe in Santa Claus – but such an experience will quickly make you believe in the MDGs! A car near Roseby pollutes, makes noise and is just as unpleasant for soft road users as the cars in the town centre.
Storgate closed?!
And certainly the MDG proposal in the summer of 2023 (before the election) to close Storgata to car traffic between Dahl corner and the road down to the bus stop (Daae corner), is being launched again by the consulting company – in the preliminary work – as a possible solution. At the same time all street parking (except some spaces for HC) will be removed from Storgata. Traffic through today is therefore referred to Øvre Veg – in practice this means almost double the traffic compared to today. Future car parks in the west (by Aker Stadion) and in the east (near Grand Fiære) will store cars – thus reducing through-traffic? But can Øvre Veg withstand such an increase in traffic?
The consultants who are now working on the transit strategy suggest (still for now!) that in practice almost all short-term parking and parking close to hand in the departure center. The impact this will have on those who currently occupy the largest parking spaces in the city center – namely public workers – may not be entirely clear yet…
The bus stop has capacity
The bus stop is wanted as an even more generous parking space for the buses – with the difference that they drive in at the Superb yard and out in Storgata (east and west!) At the corner of Daae/Sigdal. The bus stop has the potential for something much more than this!
This misses the point – the approach is too poorly balanced.
1) The center of Molde must have a stable trade – also financially
2) The center of Molde cannot live without the surrounding area (the Romsdals municipalities) using the regional center.
3) The challenges of the Molde center are in several ways dictated by the fact that one of the largest shopping centers in the country is so close – and with free parking. This is not a big problem (at least not in the written material), although it sets a framework for the solutions that the center needs and can survive.
In this regard, it is quite typical that the sample (602 people who responded in total – 110 partially responded) which is part of the TØI (Institute of Transport Economics) study – the very basis of the work on the -movement technique, living in the area from Kvam to Robbek church. After all, these are the people who can get to the city without a car – if they want to. But those who can slide down from Margrethe Dahls gate to Kneippn – and in almost as short a trip to their own toilet at home as Kneippn’s, are not particularly representative of those going from Bud to the city ! The study also shows that 88% of those who live nearby are satisfied with the city center at the moment. And of the 12 percent who are dissatisfied, there are probably some who are at least gloomy!
The Molde center needs local customers to survive – and only those who need/want to use a car. The removal of almost all short-term parking / nearby parking will be surprising and negative. If future solutions do not bring Molde center customers from the surrounding areas, Molde center will die – along with car traffic!
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2024-10-25 09:20:00
#Storgate #closed
