Barcelona City Council has confirmed that the traffic direction changes on Travessera de Gràcia will stay in place permanently. The measure, first introduced during works at Mercat de l'Abaceria in 2023, was designed to stop vehicles crossing Vila de Gràcia towards Besòs.
Travessera de Gràcia runs through Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Gràcia and Horta-Guinardó. Under the new layout, traffic heading towards Besòs will end at Carrer de Sant Gabriel, which gives access to Mercat de la Llibertat.
The council says the road will now work with alternating directions along different stretches. Between Carrer de Calvet and Carrer de Sant Gabriel, traffic will continue towards Besòs. The section between Sant Gabriel and Gran de Gràcia will switch to the Llobregat direction, before returning to Besòs from Gran de Gràcia to Torrent de l'Olla.
Further changes will apply between Torrent de l'Olla and Roger de Flor, where traffic will go towards Llobregat, before switching back to Besòs between Carrer de Roger de Flor and Cartagena.
The city council says the changes have brought a sharp fall in traffic since 2023. It reports reductions of up to 87% between Gran de Gràcia and Torrent de l'Olla, 77% between Torrent de l'Olla and Milà i Fontanals, and 93% between Via Augusta and Gran de Gràcia. It also says traffic fell by 59% at the junction of Carrer de Bonavista and Torrent de l'Olla, and by 39% between Torrent de l'Olla and Montseny.
Laia Bonet, First Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Gràcia, said the changes have “considerably reduced traffic on this road and avoided saturation episodes”. She added that the measure helps Travessera de Gràcia “function as a civic axis, in the centre of Vila de Gràcia, promoting pedestrian mobility and resident accessibility.”
The council says the lower traffic levels have not led to more vehicles on other district roads. For more local updates, see our news coverage.