Jonava is one of the leading cities in the country successfully implementing sustainable urban mobility.Participating in project"Prosperity thorough innovation and promotion of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans" inspired, points in the right direction, gained experience,seeing the environment through another prism.So we started a dialog with society for its surroundings,joint decisions&thorough education to change the mobility habits & behavior of city residents,reduce the negative impact of cars,to improve the quality of life.To the end we prepared and implemented a sustainable mobility plan(in 2017),& were the first who it approved.According to the prepared plan, the sustainable measures are implemented in the city.
Jonava municipality–is the territory almost at the centre of the country,situated near the second bigest town Kaunas.In city a lot of public areas, greenery. In recent years Jonava was changed a lot thanks to examples of participated projects good practice,society sustainable education rezults, successful,coherent implementation of the measures of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan(SUMP). Jonava is one of the twenty municipalities in the country where a SUMP is already being implemented,and the first to have such a plan approved.The city had outdated,outdated vehicles,an underdeveloped network of roads and cycle paths, facilities not adapted for people with special needs. Moving more harmoniously is often hindered by people's habits,e.g.drive everywhere. We are trying to change all that. Jonava combines the needs of sustainable development, economic viability, social equality,health and environmental quality and reach one of the aim–to balance transport system in town.
(https://www.jonava.lt/svarbios-naujieno/1743/jonavos-miesto-darnaus-judumo-planas:6164)
The tool we have choosen to make our city sutainability - prepared SUMP which was coordinated with the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan Commission of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania and which consists of our measures and main goals we want to reach. Thanks to media all this we communicated to Jonava city society with motivating thorough education e.g. quastionnaires, messages, dialogs, discussions, providing the info how our city can look as sustainable. Citiziens feedbacks was requested. And that helped us to move in right directions.
Step by step we started implementing the SUMP measures to reach our goals for making city sustainable: assess the basic mobility needs of all transport users, develop and integrate different modes of transport in the city, giving priority to public passenger and non-motorized transport and low-emission transport, sustainable use of urban space, adapting transport communications to passenger transport, pedestrians and cyclists, developing transport services and increase their efficiency, increase the attractiveness of the urban environment, improve the quality of life and public health, increase road safety and security, reduce air pollution, noise, greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.
Implementing the Sustainable Mobility Plan funded by the European Union Structural Funds and thanks to city society feedback we choose the actions in order of priority. So to start we examined and evaluated valid territorial planning and other documents. Traffic and passenger surveys were measured: traffic flows and intensity were measured in 40 points of Jonava town; was estimated pedestrian, bicycle, passenger flows. The analysis of reaching attractions in Jonava in different ways was carried out: by car, by bicycle and by public transport. We evaluated existing infrastructure.The analysis of accidents and black spots in Jonava was carried out. Also the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Jonava city transport system were determined.
Our stakeholders are Jonava district municipality society, NGO, childrens, people with disabilities.
Jonava distriict municipality responsible specialists experience of participating in sustainable projects and adoption of good practice, selection of right tools plus city society feedback - that all really influenced our surroundings today.
Jonava city transformation actions can be verified.The implementation of sustainable mobility in Jonava really has results for both the city and the urban society. The city has changed, as have the habits and behavior of society. We are glad that the transformative action in Jonava is taking place by naturally changing people's lifestyle, mobility habits, improving the quality of life and public health, and we consider it a success.The SUMP is being implemented in parts, some measures are being implemented with the funds of Jonava district municipality, some with the funds of the Government or the EU, other measures are still waiting for their turn and financing.We created a team - spacialists of the relevant departments in Jonava district municipality who are responsible for sustainable mobility in Jonava. Was renewed communication with the society and took on a new color - the emergence of dialogue, feedback. Succesfull implementing of measures of sustainable mobility is ongoing.The mobility habits and behavior of Jonava residents are changing.With the successful implementation of sustainable mobility measures,city has become to some extend and is becoming sustainable. We developed and integrated different modes of transport in the city with priority for low-polluting transport; develope new infrastrukture; reduced air pollution, noise, changed behavior and mobility habits of society.
Our aim-to implement comprehensive sustainable urban mobility in Jonava is forseen to reach the aim of SUMP thorough it's measures–to balance transport system in Jonava, when local society will choose equaly different ways of movement in city.The transport system will be safe and less harmfull for enviroment.
The information analyzed and the successful implementation of certain parts of sustainable urban mobility so far encourage planning for the further implementation of the goals set in the SUMP.
The main challenge was to change the mobility habits and behavior of Jonava city residents.Encourage people to travel by bicycle,foot,public transport,to use sharing services. Efforts have been made to change people's attitudes and create a system that makes cycling as convenient as driving a car.What we would do different today?At the beginning society was not interested in SUMP preparation,cause they thought it‘s another boring municipalities plan.So we need to send clear message to residents,that it will effect everyone in town.The mobility habits and behavior of Jonava city residents are obviously changing and the quality of life is improving.
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