The reaction of some citizens for plans already underway to "calm" traffic, add bike lanes and underground parking on the Calle de Victoria in Burgos, Spain has spurred rioting in the streets.
Rendering: Municipality of Burgos, Spain.

Adding bike lanes and employing traffic-calming techniques for city streets is common enough in today's streetscape planning. However, plans to turn the main street of Burgos (pop. 60,000) in the Gamonal District of northern Spain into a bike-friendly boulevard with subterranean parking has incited three days of rioting and 40 arrests, according to El Pais.

The street in question is Calle de Vitoria. The eight million euros project involves losing car lanes and street parking to make way for a median bike lane; parking is going subterranean.

Burgos Mayor Javier Lacalle told the local media the project was put forward by the Socialist Party and the People's Party, and had the support of 80 percent of the people who voted in the 2011 election.

The violent opposition to the project is perceived as anger over this working class district losing some social services because of budget cuts to help manage city debt, while a "beautification" streetscape project goes forward. Spain has about a 25 percent unemployment rate (youth unemployment is 57 percent), and the economy has suffered since 2007, but reportedly has emerged from more than two years of recession in the third quarter of 2013.

The rioting and demonstrations have forced the mayor to announce at least a temporary halt to the work. Feargus O'Sullivan, who covers Europe for The Atlantic Cities, reports demonstrations planned in six other Spanish cites, including one in Madrid, reflecting the "widespread frustration that Spain's elite is not listening to the concerns of ordinary people."