Barcelona will rethink access routes to the city

BarcelonaAmong the goals Barcelona has set for 2026 is to rethink access routes to the city. Taking advantage of the tender for drafting the preliminary design to continue the transformation of Meridiana Avenue in the section between Passeig Fabra i Puig and the Sarajevo Bridge, the City Council has taken the first step in this direction. In the same package, the council has also tendered a mobility study on access to the city from the Vallès-Meridiana corridor. During 2026, further studies will be commissioned on the remaining routes. doors of the Catalan capital: Diagonal Avenue and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, both from the south from Baix Llobregat and from the north from Maresme.

The City Council's objective with these studies is to understand mobility not only within the city limits, but also beyond. That is, to contribute ideas and potential solutions to the consequences of actions taken within the city. In this case, for example, to find the best options to prevent the reduction of lanes on Meridiana Avenue from turning its access points to the city from Vallès into a bottleneck. "It's a new way of doing projects. Thinking about how I can improve what I'm causing with the actions I take within my own city," explain municipal sources.

The same sources emphasize the importance of thoroughly studying traffic patterns entering and leaving the city—surveys will also be conducted with people who commute daily—so that the City Council can develop its own criteria for the actions that should be taken in these metropolitan corridors. "Barcelona has the right and the obligation to work for its residents," these sources summarize, adding that sharing strategies with other administrations, such as the Generalitat (Catalan government), can help to streamline some key interventions. With the city determined to reduce car use, the priority is to help find ways to improve other modes of transport for entering and leaving Barcelona every day. This can be done, for example, by prioritizing the reinforcement of certain transport options or by designing smaller projects that help reconfigure traffic flow into and out of the city. Therefore, the studies—which in the case of the Meridiana study cost €73,524 and should be completed by March 2027—will not only consider private vehicle traffic, but will also analyze travel by train and city bus. The transport of goods will also be studied.

In this regard, one of the key players in the debate could be the intercity bus network. A thorough understanding of its operation could allow the City Council not only to participate in the debate on how to... They reorganize the terminals of this transport but also to decide, for example, how to design bus lanes to streamline connections. For example, by creating a fast lane that allows buses entering via Meridiana not only to access Fabra i Puig or the city center, but also to reach the future La Sagrera station quickly.

Future studies

The study on Meridiana Avenue, now being tendered by Bimsa, will be the first, but the City Council plans to commission others during 2026. There is also a need to analyze mobility in other areas. doors of the city such as Diagonal Avenue – also pending transformation as a result of transfer from the Clinic in the area–, the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes in its southern section –which connects with Baix Llobregat and ends at Plaça Espanya– and the same road, but in its northern section, which links Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes with Maresme.