General Urban Traffic Plan for the city of Parma

Drafting of the General Urban Traffic Plan (PGTU) for the city of Parma

The Municipality of Parma entrusted TRT with the service of drafting the General Urban Traffic Plan (PGTU) with the executive determination n. DD-2020-2813 of 23/12/2020. TRT presented the proposed Plan that is awaiting adoption and approval by the Municipality of Parma.

Parma PGTU di Parma is structured as an implementation and short-term tool of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), a ten-year strategic instrument that the city of Parma adopted in 2017.

TRT was also responsible of the drafting of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan of the city of Parma and, in 2019, was commissioned to coordinate the implementation and monitoring of Parma’s SUMP

Parma PGTU follows the ministerial directives of 1995 and the subsequent updates of the New Highway Code, which provide guidance on the plan’s action themes, with indications on both transport supply and demand. The TMP was developed in two phases.

The first phase reconstructed an updated knowledge framework of the mobility system, delving into its key aspects:

• the regulatory framework;
• the planning and programming framework, including the status of implementation of the current PUMS;
• the provision of transport networks and services, including the existing road network and classification as well as access regulation and zones 30;
• the roadside, in-structure and interchange parking system;
• motorised urban public transport;
• cycling and sharing services;
• mobility management actions;
• transport demand;
• the social and environmental impacts of the mobility system.

The second phase was developed from the reading of the cognitive framework and the selection of objectives identified by ministerial directives.  On this basis, the PGTU identified short-term measures inferred from those foreseen by the SUMP (2017) and updated taking into account the new opportunities introduced in the last two years as measures in favour of sustainable mobility. In particular, the topics covered by the Parma PGTU include:

• a new functional classification of the network, adapted to the recent changes to the road network and the traffic calming measures recently introduced;
• streets upgrading, securing roads, regulating access and moderating interventions (Zone 30, school roads, etc.);
• the establishment of “Area Verde” (Green Area), a Low Emission Zone covering the urbanised territory of Parma and the Blue Area (ZTL), as a revision of the system for regulating access to the urban and central area;
• the revision of the network of urban public transport services and closer modal integration with the bicycle network;
• parking policy (supply, regulation and pricing);
• the improvement of cycling through the introduction of cycle roads and routes, the realisation of measures for widespread cycling (Zone 30) and the implementation of new sharing and micro-mobility services.