"Golpe de Estrada" (coup de route) is the appeal launched by an anonymous group of families from Oeiras, Portugal which has spread virally on social networks. The idea is to celebrate the 40 years of the peaceful April 25th Carnation Revolution - which brought democracy back to Portugal in 1974 - by challenging people to cycle along the Marginal coastal highway so as to reclaim public road space for cycling, and thus participate in a greater democratization of public space through a safety in numbers approach.

According to the anonymous local activists, road space in Portugal is currently managed under a sort of dictatorship by cars, since people are kept from cycling between towns, beaches and other amenities located along this picturesque coast just West of Lisbon since there's no bicycle infra-structure connecting the various locations. Part of the problem lies in the national highway authority Estradas de Portugal, which has systematically chosen a car-centred view of the territory, and refused to address cyclists' issues on public highways (for example the Alma Lisboa bicycle path initiative on the 25 de Abril bridge across the Tagus River), but also because both of the municipalities which the N6 highway connects to Lisbon, Oeiras and Cascais, are amongst the most car dependent places in Western Europe (Mobilidade em Cidades Médias. IMTT, Lisboa, 2011), and haven't implemented measures for local bicycle mobility.

According to an article by the bicycle publishing group 'Pedais.pt' the reason for this appeal lies within a common local worry with safety and the lack of possibilities presented to people who wish to travel by bicycle or on foot along this coast, especially limiting to children, youth and senior citizens since cars aren’t pacified and a connected comprehensive bicycle network is non-existent. Active mobility has been generally ignored or dealt with on a superficial leisure-oriented level by municipalities, despite some outstanding social progress achieved since 1974 and a Highway Code effective since the beginning of this year which has been applauded by all vulnerable road users; pedestrians and bicyclists.

Nonetheless, forty years after the Carnation Revolution, public space in Portugal has still to be democratized, according to these families from Oeiras: "Most of the streets and roads in Portugal are still ruled by a car-centred dictatorship, bolstered by unpunished speeding in urban areas and police tolerance towards cars parked on sidewalks, pedestrian areas and even green spaces. The space attributed to people walking or cycling is a small fraction of that offered for car travel." Therefore "Golpe de Estrada" seeks to emphasize issues such as "current sidewalks which are too narrow and exiguous for pedestrians, and also that bicycles have full rights in travelling on the asphalt pavement of the Marginal highway." Currently a proposal to remove one lane from car traffic and create a cycle path has already been presented on the Public Participatory Budget of the municipality of Oeiras for this year [see Proposal # 7]. If voted in, it will be interesting to see how the local authorities, and especially the car-centred Estradas de Portugal and the road safety authority (ANSR) deal with this idea, but unfortunately their track record has been consistent and unimpressive.

Regardless, the activists are very clear in stating that this isn't an organized tour or a demonstration. It is simply a challenge launched to the population to go to the Marginal road on April 25th and bike with family and friends to make it safer to travel by bicycle and reclaim this route with a safety in numbers attitude, or alternatively to walk on its sidewalks thus discouraging sidewalk cycling, or cars parked on these.

 About the Author

Bernardo Pereira is an architect and cycling expert who has been active in many active mobility urban projects.