The 'Spanish Week of Sustainable Mobility' awards Benidorm for "its policies in favor of pedestrian and the bicycle"
The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, receives the award in the Ministry of Environment from the Deputy General Director of Highways, Julián González
Benidorm City Council continues to reap prizes, now nationally, for its strong commitment to sustainable mobility. This time it was the Ministry of Environment that has awarded the second prize to the city of Benidorm, ahead of capitals like Valencia, which was in third place, and only after the city of Malaga and among more than 460 cities. The awards were awarded this afternoon in Madrid on the occasion of the VII edition of the 'Spanish Week of Sustainable Mobility Awards' (SEMS-2017 Awards). The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, received the award from the Deputy Director-General of Highways, Julián González, during an event held at the Ministry's own headquarters. These prizes chose a total of 467 municipalities throughout Spain and Benidorm submitted their candidacy by registering a comprehensive dossier that compiled the various actions implemented by the Department of Mobility, through the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUS), which highlighted the increase of accessibility, promotion of the use of public transport, creation of cycle lanes, "bicycle paths", bicycle parking, extension of pedestrian spaces and the increase of road safety.
The candidature of Benidorm chose the prizes in the category of "Big Cities" of more than 50,000 inhabitants, and obtained the medal and the silver diploma "for its policies, according to the opinion of the jury, use of the bicycle as a sustainable means of transport and the extension of this to the areas of tourism and occasional residence.
The SEMS-2017 Awards have summoned all municipalities, organizations, institutions and companies that participated in the European Mobility Week project in 2016, fulfilling the requirements of joining the project, as was the case in Benidorm, organizing a extensive program of activity during that week and has been repeating for 7 years.
The objective of the European Mobility Week (annual campaign on sustainable urban mobility, organized by the European Commission, of which the Ministry is the coordinator for Spain) is to encourage European local authorities to introduce and promote sustainable transport and invite its citizens to seek alternatives to the private vehicle.
These awards are presented in 2010 as an acknowledgment from the Ministry, as the national coordinator of the project, to make all the municipalities, organizations, institutions and companies that have been supporting this European project through the implementation of Permanent Measures and Good Practices.
This is the second prize that receives the City of Benidorm in less than a month for its policies on mobility. Last September he received another prize organized by the Conselleria d'Habitatge, Obres Públiques i Vertebració del Territori of the Generalitat Valenciana, on the occasion of the European Mobility Week (SEM). On this occasion, Benidorm also surpassed much larger cities and with much higher budgets.
Jury of prestige
The jury of the convocation of these national prizes was chaired by the General Director of Quality and Environmental Assessment and Natural Environment, Javier Cachón de Mesa, and was composed of representatives of the general direction of Traffic, of the Institute of Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE) of the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda; the General Directorates of Roads, Land Transport and Architecture, Housing and Land, all of them from the Ministry of Development; The Transport Research Center (TRANSyT), the Polytechnic University of Madrid, the Institute and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP).
