The offer of major agreements for the city’s key actions that Jaume Collboni has been making since he has been mayor has its first fruit: the coverage of the Dalt to Horta-Guinardó roundabout. The socialist councilor, who brought this project in his electoral program, has obtained the commitment of the municipal groups of the PSC, Junts, BComú, ERC and PP to promote it. They presented the agreement yesterday in an event at Saló de Cent in which representatives of the neighborhood associations of Sant Genís dels Agudells, Montbau and la Teixonera also participated. The one from Vall d’Hebron expressed its support.
The reactivation of the coverage of this expressway, where around 150,000 vehicles travel daily, is, for now, a declaration of good intentions. Beyond the section that already has a drafted project, between the Vall d’Hebron market and the Vallcarca avenue, which is about to be reactivated, there are neither calendars nor budgets. These issues will have to be defined throughout this mandate, which ends in 2027.
In addition to the mayor, Xavier Trias (Junts), Janet Sanz (BComú), Jordi Coronas (ERC) and Daniel Sirera (PP) participated in the event. With various nuances, they agreed to emphasize the need to move from words to deeds through realizable projects. Vox assured that they were not invited to the presentation despite sharing with the neighbors the claim of this work. Nevertheless, the two councilors of the formation went there and their leader, Gonzalo de Oro-Pulido, sneaked into the photo.
The subsequent municipal plenum gave the go-ahead to the creation of a commission for the pact for the transformation of the Ronda de Dalt and its surroundings, similar to what was done with Plaça de les Glòries. This body will study and evaluate the options for coverage and follow the actions that are deployed. Municipal groups, neighborhood representatives, economic agents, entities with infrastructure or nearby equipment will participate, in addition to City Council technicians and independent experts. It will be presided over by an opposition councilor and will have as vice-presidents the first deputy mayor, Laia Bonet, and the councilor of Horta-Guinardó, Lluís Rabell.
“The rounds were a great achievement before the Olympic Games for metropolitan mobility, but since then things have changed a lot and the city owes a debt to the neighborhoods where they were not covered,” said Collboni, which detailed how in 1992 there were areas in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Nou Barris where this ring road was covered, but not in Horta-Guinardó and Gràcia. The mayor highlighted the “permanent demand” of the residents for the round to be covered and advocated for it to be taken over by means of “a city pact that goes beyond the municipal mandates”, since it is an action “medium and long-term that must add sufficient political force” because “many investments and works will be required for a long time”.
Although they are happy about this impulse, the neighbors do not quite believe it. “There is satisfaction that it is being resumed, but at the same time a certain skepticism”, said Tony Mateo, from the Montbau neighborhood association, one of the people who supported this claim. “It’s a 36-year struggle – he emphasized – with proposals and commitments that have unfortunately not been fulfilled”. This activist reproached the City Council officials for the little that has been achieved so far, a single section in Horta-Guinardó covered by around 200 meters in eight years for which 17 million euros were dedicated. “At this stage – he pointed out – we would need a hundred years to cover it all”.
The residents want to start from their 2015 proposal, which they had largely agreed with the Trias government, at the end of their mandate. His successor, Ada Colau, considered it pharaonic and only agreed to do the section mentioned above, following an agreement between BComú and the PSC (see box).
The performance in Horta-Guinardó has four phases. The first, between the market and the Vall d’Hebron high school, was completed at the beginning of 2020. Phase 2, up to Vallcarca avenue, already has an executive project and is expected to be approved initially this month next. When you receive the final approval, you can start the bidding process for works. Phases 3 and 4, more complex, extend between Avinguda del Jordà and Granja Vella, and between the latter street and Harmonia. Most of the mountain side is occupied by the Vall d’Hebron hospital, which will open the new ambulatory and outpatient building on the sea side. This extension pushes to cover these last two sections.
