Plan is part of the GRAB cycle path around Rome.

The Colosseum linked to the Circus Maximus with a wide cycle and pedestrian path, in a radical redesign of Via di S. Gregorio.

The plan, currently being drawn up by Roma Servizi per la Mobilità, is the idea of the city's Grande Raccordo Annulare delle Bici, or GRAB for short.

The project would see pedestrians and cyclists occupying the existing carriageway on the Palatine Hill side of the street, with the opposite side reserved for traffic, reports Rome online newspaper RomaToday.

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Describing it as a "large cycle-pedestrian boulevard," Alberto Fiorillo of GRAB told RomaToday that the plan is part of an ambitious attempt to create a 45-km cycle-pedestrian around Rome.

The "boulevard" would connect to the new cycle path on Viale Aventino, between the Circus Maximus and Piramide, whose works are currently at an advanced stage.

The cycle path runs in both directions, on either side of the railings that seal off the tram-line down the centre of Viale Aventino which will soon swap its sampietrini cobblestones for asphalt.

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The GRAB project is an initiative of environmental association Legambiente and VeloLove, an organisation that promotes cultural initiatives involving mainly urban cyclists but also pedestrians, commuters and public transport users.

The GRAB route runs predominantly along existing pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths as well as parks and river banks.

Photo GRAB