Municipality of Stari Grad appeals to the Ministry of Transport to change traffic suspension criteria

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Municipality of Stari Grad Sarajevo is appealing to the Ministry of Transport of Sarajevo Canton due to the increasing number of races held on the main city road, and the increasingly frequent traffic suspensions approved by this ministry for these purposes, to align the procedures for approving such traffic suspensions and to be more rigorous in issuing permits. 

- Traffic suspension on the main city road, as was the case on Friday evening, on the route: Maršala Tita, Musala, Obala Kulina bana, Telali, Bentbaša (from the intersection with Telali street to Nevjestina street) and Mula Mustafe Bašeskije, most often leads to a complete traffic collapse in the city.

The Municipality of Stari Grad does not issue any approvals for holding such races on the territory of this municipality, but our citizens, as well as numerous other visitors to the city, are very much feeling the consequences of such decisions. Traffic suspension, even for a short period on such a busy road which is the "lifeline" of the entire Sarajevo, creates big problems for all traffic participants - both for drivers who are forced to seek alternative routes or wait for hours for the suspension to end, and for citizens using public transport, which is often completely suspended for the same reasons.

The Municipality of Stari Grad is obliged to react to this issue precisely because it receives numerous complaints from citizens who believe that this body is responsible for it.

After the heavy rainfall that hit our city on Friday afternoon and caused a traffic collapse, the traffic suspension due to the race held in the evening hours further burdened traffic and drivers. Without diminishing the importance of such events, which are mostly of a humanitarian nature, we consider it our duty to react and ask the Ministry of Transport to allow races on the main city road only in exceptional circumstances in the future, and to use less busy streets or promenades for their organization in the future, such as Aleja ambasadora, Vilsonovo šetalište, etc., where there will be no traffic collapse, or the traffic suspension will have fewer consequences.