Pedestrian Interventions in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires has been implementing an impressive set of pedestrian interventions since 2012- This page shares some examples from the city’s official report, and provides Google Street View frames so that you can explore some of these intersections virtually.

Pedestrian interventions are led by a group including Secretary of Transportation Juan Jose Mendez and Director of Sustainable Mobility Paula Bisiau. The city works with neighborhoods to identify high priority intersections. Citizens want improvements that slow down traffic and simplify crossing the street on foot.

Buenos Aires typically installs a chain of interventions along several blocks of a corridor to make a bigger impact. On the city’s Diagonal avenues, nearly an acre of space has been converted to pedestrian use. One of the corridors- Avenida Warnes- has seen a 39% reduction in collisions since a series of 10 interventions was installed.

Buenos Aires is also improving public transportation, expanding its network of bike lanes, growing a bike share system, and promoting road safety through public campaigns.

Buenos Aires is one of the 29 cities around the world that has endorsed NACTO’s Global Street Design Guide released earlier this month. NACTO has been a key organization documenting best practices for interim design strategies– Lighter, quicker, cheaper methods of reconfiguring streets and intersections using paint, planters, and other temporary materials.

Interim design strategies have been featured in a few past projects here at IQC, including Okmulgee and Oklahoma City’s Classen Boulevard.

Diagonal Sur and Diagonal Norte

Diagonal Sur and Diagonal Norte are two diagonal streets that cut through the grid of Buenos Aires in the heart of the city, and they are two of the most heavily traveled streets for pedestrians. Diagonal streets create challenging intersections for pedestrians, and interventions along these streets sought to expand pedestrian space, slow down traffic, and make crossing the street safer and more comfortable.

Buenos Aires created a chain of pedestrian interventions along these important corridors that totals more than 3,000 square meters (3/4 of an acre!) of space reclaimed for pedestrians.

This image highlights the original conditions at the intersection of Diagonal Sur and Peru, where the Monument to Roca towers over the intersection. The view highlights missing crosswalk connections, long crossing distances for pedestrians, large expanses of asphalt, and cars parked everywhere.

At this intersection, 42% of pedestrians surveyed nearby felt unsafe on the street.

Awkward, angular intersections are not required to implement interventions for pedestrians and traffic calming. This simple four-way intersection had wide corners for turning and long crossing distances.