Valladolid’s decision to remove key bike and bus lanes has triggered a sharp rise in city traffic, reversing years of decline under previous sustainable transport policies. New data exposes the real impact of prioritizing private vehicles over alternative mobility.
When Valladolid’s city hall removed popular bike lanes and a central bus corridor, traffic volumes jumped almost immediately, wiping out much of the progress made during years of sustainable mobility reforms. An independent group of engineers and architects, working with official municipal data, has now detailed just how quickly things changed. Their analysis, which draws on both city statistics and regional open data from Castile and León, shows a clear and rapid shift in traffic patterns.
Between 2019 and 2023, while the PSOE and Valladolid Toma La Palabra coalition governed, urban traffic dropped by 13.9%. After the conservative PP and Vox alliance took office and began dismantling sustainable transport infrastructure, the city saw an 8.7% increase in traffic in just one year. At the city’s edge, the rise was only 0.9%. The numbers point to a direct link: removing bike and bus lanes has brought more cars back into the city center. These findings match the conclusions of the independent engineers and architects, who relied on official municipal data.
The regional open data portal of Castile and León provides annual traffic intensity and speed figures, allowing for independent verification of changes in Valladolid's main corridors.
Avenida de Gijón is a clear example. Under the previous administration, a dedicated bike lane led to a 29.4% drop in traffic on that stretch, as confirmed by municipal traffic counters. After the lane was removed, traffic rose by 24.3%. Engineer Daniel de Santiago, a co-author of the study, points to the "induced demand" effect: "When you expand road capacity for cars, more cars appear. The same drivers who were discouraged before are now back behind the wheel."
The city’s new mayor, Jesús Julio Carnero (PP), has defended the changes, saying that "vehicles move faster and more safely and there is less pollution." But the data tells a different story. The study documents a sharp drop in traffic after the bike lane was installed and a clear rebound after it was removed. On Avenida de Gijón, the effect of removing the bike lane almost exactly reversed the earlier reduction, showing how infrastructure decisions shape how people get around. Regional statistics back this up, showing only a slight increase in traffic at the city’s edge, while the surge is concentrated downtown.
Other streets show the same pattern. On López Gómez, traffic fell by 21.2% when a bus-taxi lane was in place, then rose by 10.8% after it was removed. The researchers note that some of the drop was also due to restrictions on nearby streets, but the trend is clear: take away space from cars, and car traffic falls; give it back, and it rises. The group’s analysis is based on direct readings from municipal traffic counters and matches broader trends in the city’s official data.
After the new administration began dismantling sustainable mobility measures, the Supreme Court of Spain ruled that the municipal order to remove certain lanes was illegal, forcing city authorities to develop a new regulatory scheme.
The city’s approach to low-emission zones has been to shrink them to the minimum, resulting in a 0.6% drop in traffic—so small that the study’s authors say it had little real effect.
Bicycle infrastructure has not improved either. The new bike lane along Isabel la Católica, rerouted through a park and disconnected from main streets, has not attracted many riders. While some bike counters in the city saw usage rise by about 30%, this new lane only managed a 12% increase. Daily averages between January and June 2024 showed 1,145 cyclists, compared to 834 in the same period of 2026—a drop that even the study’s authors did not expect. The city’s public bike rental system, Biki, has become more popular, but this has not led to more private cycling, suggesting the new infrastructure is not meeting actual needs.
City officials have dismissed the study as "the typical report that draws its own conclusions," insisting that their reforms have improved bus speeds and bike use. But the evidence points the other way. The cost of removing and rebuilding bike lanes has soared, with the Isabel la Católica project alone rising from €200,000 for the original lane to nearly €1 million for the new, less effective version.
Valladolid is not alone. Across Spain, cities are under pressure to balance car use with sustainable transport. As recent analysis shows, regions with high car dependence also report the highest levels of traffic stress and congestion.
The lesson from Valladolid is clear: when city leaders prioritize private vehicles and remove alternative mobility options, gridlock returns quickly. The data is hard to argue with. Sustainable transport policies are not just slogans—they make the difference between a city that moves and one that stalls. For Valladolid, the numbers tell the story.
