Catalonia: a N E W Road
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CATALONIA: A NEW ROAD MAP THEMAP OF THE CATALANROADS AND MOTORWAYS HAS IMPROVED CONSIDERABLY IN THE LAST FEW YEARS. NOT ONLY HAVE BAD ROADS BEEN REPAIRED, BUT MANY NEW SECTIONS HAVE ALSO BEEN BUILT. he map of the roads and motor- returns to the grid system planned in the curious case, a good stretch of the A-2 ways in service in Catalonia has time of the Generalitat of the Second coincides with a stretch of the A-7, from improved substantially in the Republic. The plan now being executed El Papiol to La Bisbal del Penedes. The clast ren years. Not only have many bad ensures that al1 the towns and villages stretch of the A-2 between El Papiol and or narrow roads been straightened or of Catalonia are linked by road to a city Barcelona, along with the A-17 from widened, but a considerable quantity of or important town of more than 10,000 Barcelona to Montrneló, means that the new sections have also been built. The inhabitants and less than three quarters A-7 motorway, parallel to the coast, is amount of building work put into roads in of an hour away by car. practically a radial road centred on Catalonia in ten years must be much higher Ten years ago, Catalonia had three ra- Barcelona. The N-ll road, from Lleida to than that of the preceding forty years. dial motorways from Barcelona: to Ma- Girona and the border, also goes But the most innovative aspect of this taró (A-19), to Granollers (A-1 7) and to through Barcelona following a radial work -most of which can be attributed Terrassa (A-18), respectively; and two criterion with respect to the capital of to the Ministry of Public Works and to motorways that linked up with those Catalonia. the Generalitat- is that it has been outside the Principality: the A-7, from The radial course of the A-7 motorway, adapted to planning established by the the French border to the País Valencia lying close to the coost, has been both Catalan parliament. Now there is an -passing through Girona and Tarrago- a cause and an effect of the demo- official road rnap that breaks with the na-; and the A-2, from Barcelona to graphic and industrial concentration previous radial pattern and, essentially, Saragossa, passing through Lleida. As a along this strip of land. From the Pyre- N-152 ROAD FR& BARCELONA TO WC nees to the Ebro, in a corridor less than villages along the Llobregat, including like the ones at Mollet del Valles and fifty kilometres wide, is concentrated Manresa and Berga, have been di- Tona. North of Vic, the road has not yet three quarters of the population of Ca- verted alon~gtwo-lane by-passes which been straightened, but improvements talonia. can be widened to four lanes. In addi- have been made to the section known So as to balance the country and im- tion, the Montserrat toll motorway has as El Purgatori and are now being prove communications with the interior been opened from Manresa to Terras- carried out on the curves of Orís and of Catalonia, the roads plan laid out sa, Rubí and Sant Cugat del Valles. At Terradelles as far as Ripoll, with a tunnel north-south axes and transverse axes. Sant Cugat it connects with another at the bend at La Farga de Bebie. Pre- The first of these to begin to take shape emblematic achievement of recent vious to this, the Ripoll by-pass had was the Llobregat Axis, from Barcelona public works -the Vallvidrera tunnels, been built, linking up with the improved to Puigcerda, which forms part of the which open up a new route from the stretch of the road from Ripoll to Ribes European itinerary E-9. Its most emble- Valles to Barcelona via Sarria. The suc- de Freser. matic engineering work, a landmark in cess of this last section of the Llobregat To the west, the route most improved by the Catalan communications network, Axis -the five Vallvidrera tunnels- has engineering works to straighten and was the Cadí tunnel and its accesses. even taken the promoters by surprise. widen the road has been the Ebro Axis. The tunnel not only communicated the On the other hand, the motorway from This has been practically completed Bages, Bergueda and Cerdanya re- 'Sant Cugat to Rubí and Manresa has between Amposta and Maials. Befcre gions, but also eliminated a natural less demand. long it will reach Lleida. To the north of barrier between the Llobregat and The second north-south axis, which is the capital of the Segria the work of Segre valleys. And, at the same time, almost completed, with two lanes in widening the road from Balaguer to between the Barcelones region and either direction, is the N-152 from Bar- Sort is almost finished. This road cros- the Pyrenees, following the most direct celona to Vic. widening this road has ses two impressive gorges, that of Te- route to Paris. called for important engineering works rradets and that of Collegats. In each The Llobregat Axis has been backed up such as the twin tunnels at El Figueró case, tunnels have been built, one in with the improvements to the C-1411 and the crossing of the bed of the river either direction, so as not to damage road from Arbrera to the Cadí tunnel. Congost at El Figueró and Aiguafreda, the landscape. The Collegats section is All the roads through the towns and as well as a series of large by-passes the responsibility of. ,tb .lrdjiJj~$y of ROAD AND RAllWAY FROM BARCELONA TO VIC Public Works, because it forms part of with important viaducts. The River Llo- been improved, as well as the section the Pyrenean Axis; the Terradets section bregat is about to be canalized be- between Girona and Banyoles, which is the responsibility of the Generalitat. tween Martorell and Molins de Rei, now by-passes the capital of the Pla de The work that will do most to change which will serve to continue the straight- I'Estany; and those between Valls and the radial layout of the main roads of ening of the N-ll, with four lanes from Montblanc and between Igualada and Catalonia is the Transverse Axis, which Martorell to Barcelona's coastal ring- Capellades; the C-1313 has been re- will link Girona and Lleida without hav- road. This will complete the southern- routed round the reservoir of Rialb. ing to go through Barcelona. At the eas- most section of the Llobregat Axis. At the same time as the A-7 motorway is tern end, the Generalitat has started Another important construction now in being widened with an extra lane in work on the section between Girona service is the Garraf motorway (A-16) either direction between Granollers and and Vic, after many years of doubts and from Castelldefels to Sitges. The terrain Hostalric, the Generolitat has started a discussions over the route it should fol- and the importance of protecting the new motorway which will link Granollers low. But it is at the western end where countryside have called for the cons- and Mataró, with a tunnel under the the work is most advanced, because truction of a series of tunnels and via- Coll de Parpers. This new communica- between Lleida and Cervera it coincides ducts. In the very near future this toll tions route between the Maresme and with the straightening of the N-ll and is motorway will continue as far as El Ven- the Valles Oriental will be the first sec- the responsibility of the Ministry. The drell. tion of Barcelona's future "fourth ring- sections between Lleida and Tarrega It is worth mentioning other important road", which will go through Sabadell, are already in use. Work is now in pro- improvements to the roads, such as Terrassa and Martorell. The Ministry, gress on the Lleida by-pass, which will some along the Costa Brava, with by- for its part, has started the Mataró by- divert traffic to the north of the city, the passes to avoid traffic iams in the sum- pass, which will form part of the Mares- Cervera by-pass and the road between mer. The Pyrenean Axis has improved me motorway, a continuation of the Cervera and Tiirrega. between Puigcerda and Seu d'urgell, A-1 9 as far as Palafolls. This prolonga- The N-ll has also been straightened also between Besalú and Olot; and tion, which was conceived as an alter- between Igualada and Martorell, with a work has started on the Capsacosta native to the N-ll and therefore free of second Bruc tunnel for the west-east and Bianya tunnels. The section of the charge, like the main road, will finally traffic and a by-pass at Esparraguera C-152 between Pasteral and Amer has be a toll motorway. • .