Nearly 1 million people live in Tirana today, and just 15 years ago there were nearly 300.000. The city expanded so much that the urban master plan of 1989 was useless. The city fell into a chaotic development that venquished all that was beautiful about it. Almost all public places, like parks for example, were occupied by shops and clubs, while along the Lana river contruction of all kinds were raisen. It took a politician with broad vision and a lot of political courage to return the city to an acceptable condition. Right now the city is developing through segmentary urban plans. The most important is the
regulatory plan for the city, which is being carried out by the municipality. This plan is estimated at 180 million $. It has 4 main sections:
1- Rehabilitation of all roads and restoration of green spaces within neighbourhouds. This includes primary, secondary and terciary roads. This example from a part of "Artan Lenja" block, in the suburbs, gives clear idea of what this part of the regulatory plan is about
:
This is a section of the Artan Lenja block before the intervention of the regulatory plan:
This is what the space management will be after the works in this area are over:
2- The second section of the regulatory plan involves the lengthining of the main boulevard "Deshmoret e Kombit" with 2km, thus doubling its size. The current boulevard links Mother Teresa square with the train station. The last extremity will move into the Tirana river. Tirana river on the other hand will have a concrete profile similiar to the one Lana river has. The image below shows the extension of the boulevard. Green is the actual boulevard, while in red the new section the will be constructed is shown. The new extension goes through a low developed area, and it is thought that this move will bring more constructers to build commercial and service centers there.
3- The third section is about the construction of the big outer city ring, linking Tirana-Durres highway, with the Tirana-Elbasan highway which will be constructed soon by private investors. This is supposed to reduce traffic within the city itself. Other rings will be constructed, but this is the most important one.
4- The third section involves the construction of two tram routes. The first going through the main boulevard and the second following the Lana and Tirana rivers perimeter as shown on the map. Red is route one and yellow is route 2.
The second most important development is the City Center Master Plan designed by Architecture Studio, which addresses mainly areas around the main boulevard.
Western and Southern City Ring (WR, SR) and the Tirana-Elbasan Highway (TREL).
Western Ring
WR is 6-6,5km long and links the Kamza Turn (Tirana-Durres HW entryway from Tirana), which is the access point of all vehicles coming from the north to the capital and many transit through the capital to south eastern destinations.
Southern Ring
SR is 7,5km long. It links Vaqarr, southern extremity of WR, with Farka Bridge, the entryway to Tirana-Elbasa HW (TREL). This is meant to move all in city transits to south eastern Albania, outside the city.
Tirana-Elbasan Highway
TREL is 35,2-35,8 km long. It is built through a rural area. 65% of expropriations are public (state) property. 35% of expropriations involve private land. Expropriations are however minimal. TREL is shorter then the current Tirana-Elbasan road, and has a a track speed at least 3 times faster.
A segment of TREL in perspective view shows how TREL relates to geographical features along its trace: