The Three Chimneys revive the arrival of the tram to the Port of Badalona

BarcelonaThe conversion of the Three Chimneys of Sant Adrià de Besòs into an audiovisual hub will also entail a profound transformation of the surrounding area. This transformation is gradually taking shape, and on Thursday, the various institutions involved in the project provided more details. Among other things, they revealed that the redevelopment of the area will also involve reactivating a project that had been dormant for almost nine years: the extension of the tram line to the Port of Badalona. With the aim of providing better accessibility to the future Catalunya Media City, the project revives the plan to extend the Trambesòs beyond the Sant Adrià de Besòs station with two new stops: one opposite the Three Chimneys and another, which will be the terminus, opposite the Port of Badalona. The tram, which will run parallel to the existing railway line, will thus be extended by 1.4 kilometers and could directly connect the Badalona coastline with the center of Barcelona.

This is a project that was first proposed in 2017 by the then Minister of Territory, Josep Rull. Now, the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) has approved the preliminary study for the project, with the aim of beginning the drafting of the detailed design in the first quarter of 2029 and starting construction in early 2031. If this timeline is met, the government expects the two new stations to be operational by the third quarter of 2020. 23.6 million euros.

The tram extension will be one of the key elements of the new urban development planned around the Three Chimneys, as defined by the Urban Development Master Plan (PDU) approved in 2023. That plan designates 32 hectares of land straddling Sant Adrià, creating public space between the new roads to be built and the future coastal park.

The design of this new road network is another of the new developments announced by the Catalan Government this Thursday. For the first time, they have presented virtual renderings of how the streets and pedestrian areas will be laid out in a zone that, in addition to Catalunya Media City, is slated to accommodate 1,783 new homes in the future, 40% of which will be subsidized housing. However, these homes are not expected to be available until approximately 2035.

A flood-proof development

First, the entire area will need to be urbanized. The project, which will be approved in the middle of this year and was designed by the Batlle i Roig studio, aims to break down the barrier created by the railway line and create a more permeable delta connecting with the northern part of Sant Adrià de Besòs and Badalona. To achieve this, a new underpass will be built on Avenida del Maresme, along with two elevated walkways on Avenida de la Playa and Carrer de Ramon Viñas. The existing underpass on Carrer Olímpic will also be renovated. The goal is for these walkways to not appear as a mere dot, but rather to convey the feeling that, despite crossing the railway tracks, you are walking through a park. Therefore, they will include vegetation and shade. Regarding the streets to be built in the area, it will be a very pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare—in the case of Eduard Maristany, in addition to the tram, there will also be a bike lane—and with a significant presence of pine trees, similar to the large coastal park. One of the challenges the project faces is its location in a delta and, therefore, in a flood-prone area. For this reason, the main roads will have green ditches to facilitate water drainage, making the process visible and encouraging vegetation to thrive. The goal is for the park's development and the roads to be completed by 2032.

Another key player in the area's transformation also plays a crucial role in managing these potential floods: the future Three Chimneys Coastal Park. Last December, the Generalitat announced the winning proposal The competition to design this nearly 90,000-square-meter green space in the Besòs Delta has concluded, and the goal is to approve the final design by mid-year. Through nature-based solutions—such as the sponge berm promenade, dunes, lagoons, and sustainable drainage systems—integrated water cycle management and active protection against the effects of climate change are achieved. Furthermore, the park seamlessly integrates territorial infrastructure, such as the Levante interceptor sewer, which will be relocated from its current position within the park. Following the meeting of the joint monitoring committee for Catalonia Media City—comprised of the Catalan government, the city councils of Barcelona, ​​Sant Adrià de Besòs, Badalona, ​​and Terrassa, as well as the director of the Besòs Consortium, Ferran Falcó, who coordinates the project—the Minister of the Presidency celebrated the city as a space that, he said, "is currently a degraded industrial area."