Bucharest City Hall intends to build in Romana Sq. an underground passage which will reduce the number of the crosswalks at the surface and connect the metro station.

The author of the project, the architect Alexandru Beldiman, presented in March, during a public debate at the City Hall, a series of modifications to be brought to the square through the construction of the underground passage, similar to the one in Universitatii Sq.

The underground passage will have an area of 5,600 sqm, including 550 sqm commercial spaces.

Several NGOs, which asked for the public debate in March, have contested the project, by saying that the passage will augment the auto traffic in the centre, while the pedestrians will be "taken underground".

In mid- December 2006, CGMB have approved a project for the construction of a pedestrian underground passage in Romana Sq. that should have been completed in 2008.

The municipality representatives have said during the public debate in March that the execution contract was already assigned, following a bid started in 2006, to a consortium that includes the companies Astaldi SpA and Euro Construct Trading.

The passage will have five entries. At the surface, the construction of the passage will involve the enlargement of the sidewalks with four metres, as well as increasing the green area, from 128 to 528 sqm.

The pedestrian area will be increased from 2,327 to 3,155 sqm, up to 29.26% from the total area of the Square, while the road traffic will diminish from 8,326 to 7,100 sqm, from 77.23% to 65.84%.

The waiting time of the pedestrians for the traffic lights, an average of 42 seconds will be gone, and the duration of pedestrian movement in the area will diminish from 138 to 78 seconds, while the waiting time of the cars at the crossroad will diminish from 135 to 90 seconds.

By diminishing the waiting time of the cars at the crossroad, the pollution level will also decrease, the project estimates.  (source: wall-street.ro)