TIRANA, Sept. 23 – Albania’s capital has marked a day without vehicles in its downtown, joining a global movement marked each year on Sept. 22.
The vehicle-free day delighted pedestrians, who were treated to a fair by the municipality, but caused headaches for drivers in Albania’s congested capital, as they had to be rerouted through traffic jams.
On Tuesday, the main boulevard and square in the capital saw no cars and the area was free for children and bikers.
The city hall had also organized a fair of agricultural products from the municipality’s rural districts in an effort to promote them.
Mayor Erion Veliaj has been promoting the use of bikes in the city and has also started to create new biking lanes in some streets.
He said that they will try to repeat such a vehicle-free and fair day almost every month.
Environment authorities said the level of air pollution had fallen two to three times in some areas that day due to the ban on vehicles in the downtown area.
Albania’s Environment Agency says increasing levels of pollution in the capital are the result of vehicle traffic, construction and the way the capital is cleaned.
Air pollution in the capital Tirana is in the danger zone, official data show, and 20 percent worse than the lowest EU standard.
According to WHO, about 500 premature deaths occur per year in Albania from air pollution alone and life expectancy has dropped nearly two years as result.
The industrial pollution of the communist era has been replaced by thousands of vehicles, many of which are old and polluting.
A main source of air pollution the bad quality of fuel, according to the experts. Besides carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur, urban dust is also high and harmful, according to the World Health Organization.
Pollution in Albania has only been made worse due to added machines and reduction of urban greenery and forest cutting.
What is Car Free Day?
