GRAB: Bicycle Ring Road

The GRAB, Grande Raccordo Anulare delle Biciclette, is the maxi project dedicated to the creation of a cycle/pedestrian ring accessible to all, which extends for 45 km within the city of Rome.

A light infrastructure, with high environmental, social and cultural profitability and designed to improve the places it passes through without adding volumes and concrete in an already massively built-up place.

This project finally requires the pedestrianization of the Appia Antica and, in addition to being the prologue to the birth of a Capitoline archaeological park from the Fori to the Regina Viarum, it represents a real breath of fresh air for the Capital as widespread interventions will be carried out for the regeneration of the suburbs and redevelopment of marginal and degraded spaces.

The points of interest will be multiple: from ancient history up to the contemporary architecture of Zaha Hadid and Renzo Piano to the Street Art of Quadraro and Torpignattara, combining the beauties of the Colosseum, Trastevere, parks and landscapes.

The route, completely flat, winds for 2/3 along pedestrian and cycle paths, historic villas and river banks, the remainder is currently intended for ordinary roads.

Last week a Facebook live broadcast was held to take stock of the project.

The conference was attended by Riccardo Capecchi, technician from the Ministry of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility (MIMS), who underlined how GRAB is a solid reality, already financed and in a very advanced planning phase.

The previews on the characteristics of the route and the design choices, however, were left to Lucina Caravaggi, Professor at the Department of Architecture of the Sapienza University of Rome: "Giving substance to the project without betraying the original idea was not easy, but after all it is a unique experience for our city" said Caravaggi, adding that “The GRAB is an infrastructure with multiple benefits for tourism, the local population, sustainable mobility, and to enhance the greenery of Rome through real connections between the city's parks. We wanted to avoid the project being the "classic cycle path", a ribbon of colored asphalt that goes from A to B, which is why we thought of the GRAB as a magical line capable of enhancing the areas crossed. Continuity devices will be guaranteed, so that the route is clearly recognisable, but the characteristics of the places will be respected, for example the materials of the project will be different based on the context crossed, a combination of protection and recognisability of the route."

Furthermore, Caravaggi focused on some important elements such as signage, communication of the project and the replacement of new draining floors.

Also present at the conference was Alessandro Fuschiotto from Roma Servizi per la Mobilità, a company responsible for transforming the dream into reality, applying different design techniques and paying attention to compliance with the legislation and the needs of the interlocutors.

The latter stated that the project is divided into 6 functional lots, 3 of which are about to go to the services conference so that by the end of the year we will have the first definitive projects.

In this way, it is hoped that the GRAB will be concluded by 2024.

An ambitious project, therefore, which aims to return our beautiful capital to the citizens and give a new redistribution of public space.