Municipal Cycling Mobility Plan for Ugento

Drafting of the Cycling Mobility Plan of the Municipality of Ugento (Salento), strategic vision to promote cycling for daily travel and for tourism

The Municipal Administration of Ugento has entrusted “TRT Ingegneria” with the drafting of the Municipal Cycling Mobility Plan, after obtaining funding from the Puglia Region in 2021.

The territory of Ugento is characterised by a strong vocation for tourism. This is due to the possibility of taking advantage of its numerous natural and environmental resources, including its marinas and parks, as well as the presence of a significant historical and cultural heritage. The primary public will for the area is to enhance and support the tourism system, and in this regard, cycling plays a particularly important role.

Given the characteristics of the city of Ugento, the proposed bicycle network is developed by integrating the central urban area with the extensive network of existing suburban paths and white roads. This is done to define a complete active mobility network in the entire municipal territory that supports not only daily movements but also recreational and leisure trips.

The Cycling Plan proposal considers as a starting point some references projects that involve the municipal territory at various levels. These are “La ciclovia dei Tre Mari”, the ongoing “Project for the construction of bicycle paths in the municipality of Ugento” and the proposal contained in the “Plan for the Ugento Litoral Regional Natural Park “.

The plan elaboration was structured in two phases:

• The first phase, called “Cognitive framework and guidelines”, contains the analysis of the current state of cycling mobility in Ugento. It analyses the supply and demand of cycling routes and related services, as well as the social and environmental impacts. This document also contains the regulatory, planning and programming framework.
• The second phase, called “Drafting the Plan Document”, contains the definition of the objectives and strategies, as well as the description of the method used to identify priorities for action. The document presents the design of the cycle network, identifies services dedicated to cycling, and communication activities to encourage cycling. Finally, the document is completed by the investment cost estimation and the definition of the indicators for monitoring the planned actions.

The Plan was adopted by the Municipal Council on 26.01.2023 and received the declaration of non-subjection to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) on 21.04.2023 by the competent Authority. On 05.07.2023, it was approved by the Municipal Council.