Barcelona and its metropolitan area are facing a busy Easter Monday return, with the Catalan Traffic Service, Servei Català de Trànsit, activating a special operation for 25 May. The plan is aimed at managing the flow of vehicles back towards the city and surrounding area.
Officials expect around 300,000 vehicles to head towards the Catalan capital between 12pm and midnight. The main issue is not only the number of cars, but the fact that so much of the traffic is concentrated into a single day.
The busiest roads are expected to include the AP-7, especially in the Alt Penedès area and on the northern stretch linked to the Costa Brava. The AP-7 had already seen more than 40 kilometres of queues during the outbound phase on Friday and Saturday, with an accident on Monday morning closing one lane near Roda de Berà.
Later in the day, especially between 5pm and 10pm, delays are expected on the main access routes into Barcelona, including the C-31 and C-32 from Maresme and Garraf, the C-58 and the B-23. The Trinitat junction, Ronda de Dalt and Ronda del Litoral are also likely to see stop-start traffic into the night.
To ease the flow, more than 150 kilometres of extra lanes are being used in the opposite direction to normal traffic on the AP-7, the C-32 north and the B-23 access into Barcelona. Lorries over 7.5 tonnes are banned from the AP-7 during the peak afternoon hours.
The Mossos d'Esquadra have also deployed 1,260 officers for road checks, including speed, alcohol and drug controls. The traffic service said three people died on Catalan roads over the long weekend and urged drivers to take care. For more Catalonia-wide traffic updates, see news.
