Work has already begun on phase I of the Huerva de Zaragoza river project, which will transform its passage through the city into an “urban forest” in 2027. This was described by the city’s mayor, Natalia Chuecathis Monday during the press conference held at the foot of the river, at the Emperador Augusto bridge, accompanied by the Minister of Environment and Tourism of the Government of Aragon, Manuel Blasco, as well as urban planning advisors, Infrastructure , and Energy and Housing, Víctor Serrano and the Councilor for Environment and Mobility, Tatiana Gaudes.
The Ebro project is in the “top 3 legislative projects”, said Chueca, who defends that the transformation of the Huerva River has three main axes: “improving the quality of the waters of the river, fighting invasive vegetation so that we can recover native species and open the river to the city. To do this, we will create more accessible accesses and trails and new spaces that will allow us to enjoy the river bed but in a way that respects the river.
“We are talking about say goodbye to abandonment and the dirt of the Huerva river”, he added. For his part, the Aragonese councilor Manuel Blasco shared his youthful memories: “I saw Huerva from above and for me it was like a dark room there in which we didn’t really know what was there. Once the work is completed, it will be another garden in the city, a promenade that will be connected in the future to the Cuarte de promenade. Huerva, on which we also work.
The work is financed by the Zaragoza City Hall, the Government of Aragon and the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) as part of the recovery, transformation and resilience plan (PRTR), funded by the European Union-NextGenerationEU.
The landscape and hydromorphological restitution of the Huerva will be carried out in two phases, throughout the 2.1 kilometers of banks divided into two sections. The first goes from the Blasco del Cacho bridge to the river cover on Gran Vía, a particularly degraded area in which the river flows in a very confined manner by buildings. The second section begins at the Miguel Servet street bridge and ends at the mouth of the Ebro.
The first phase of this project involves a disbursement of 8.4 million euros and should be completed in eight months. The actions will consist of cleaning and clearing the surroundings of the canal, opening access for the works and starting to develop three of the new paths. In addition, a rainwater basin will be built and part of the sanitation and water networks will be renewed.
New pedestrian paths
One of the objectives of the project is to improve the connection between the city and the river. To this end, over the coming months, new pedestrian paths will begin to be laid out which will allow them to follow the river bed on certain sections. The steep slopes and embankments that surround the river will still not allow the entire bank to be covered in a row, but the new paths will improve continuity.
The three new paths will be floodablejust like those of the Ebro, and will have permeable sidewalks that will help filter and use water. In addition, its route will be adapted to the height differences of the canal to integrate it into the landscape and reduce earthworks.
Alongside all this work, Zaragoza City Hall is moving forward with the development of the second phase of the project. Natalia Chueca explained that this will be when we will really see the new Huerva. It will complete the fluvial recovery of the riverplanting vegetation and these new open spaces will be created next to the river to take advantage of it.
The mayor stressed that the first meetings have already taken place with the associative and neighborhood fabricEnvironmental groups must listen to their proposals and see if they are technically viable and compatible with the requirements of the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation.
