The C-32 highway is becoming a testing ground for cutting-edge projects within Abertis' Future Road Lab and the Awai app, including ultra-fast electric vehicle charging stations and a renowned customer service system designed by Autopistas. The infrastructure, owned by the Government of Catalonia, is the new mobility laboratory that aims to expand across the entire road network. These initiatives are also part of the Government of Catalonia's Connected and Intelligent Roads Program.

"It made no sense to build another access to the C-32 in Canet, if there was already one a little further on," says Mercè Girona, spokesperson for the Canet de Mar Environmental Emergency Coordinator (CEAC). This week, the environmentalist residents of CEAC, Preservem el Maresme, and Unió de Pagesos received the news they had long awaited: the new access to the C-32 in Canet de Mar will not go ahead after all. After years of neighborhood mobilizations and a substantial list of objections, the Balearic Government has decided to back down and has removed this infrastructure project from the package of works that will soon be put out to tender, which includes plans for five other new access points to the highway in the Maresme region. "We had a meeting in September where they already told us, but we waited for them to make it official with the town councils as well," explains Girona. Now, the final step remains: for the decision to be put in writing. "This will be around Christmas, when the resolutions regarding the appeals we've filed are published," the neighborhood spokesperson explained. "They assured us that access "The Canet project has declined and will not be awarded or budgeted," he confirms. For its part, the Government says it is not completely ruling out the project, but rather that it will be "re-examined," and assures that it could be resumed in the future if the local councils act. "All the municipalities would have to agree, which we believe will not happen, and we would have to start from scratch to find new funding," explains Girona, who considers this option practically ruled out.

The lifting of tolls has a direct effect on traffic, according to data from motorways where the tolls have been removed after decades. On January 1, 2020, several toll sections were lifted and during the first year of toll-free use, car traffic has increased by up to 40% despite the pandemic, according to data from the Ministry of Transport obtained by ARA.

August 31 will be the last day that tolls will be paid on the AP-7 between Salou and La Jonquera; on the AP-2, the motorway that links the AP-7 with Zaragoza via Lleida; on the northern stretch of the C-32 between Montgat and Palafolls; and pm the C-33, between Barcelona and Montmeló. What seems to be good news for users is not good news for workers. As ARA has learnt, the lifting of tolls will entail a labour force adjustment plan (ERE) in Abertis, whose concession will end. It will affect 408 workers, most of whom work collecting tolls