The Generalitat will allocate close to 100 million euros to the construction of cycle paths in 3 years

The Generalitat will allocate 94 million euros to the construction of 125 kilometers of cycle paths in three years, and up to 102 million including other infrastructures to promote the use of the bike, the highest item in the history of the Catalan administration.

The Minister of Territories, Juli Fernández, announced this today at the presentation of the 2023-2025 action plan of the Catalan Bicycle Strategy 2025. This expansion of the network of routes for cyclists will allow 790,000 vehicles to be removed from the roads per year and save 1,550 tons of CO2 in emissions, according to estimates made by the Generalitat.

The Catalan Bicycle Strategy 2025, approved by the Government in 2019, includes the commitment of the Generalitat to promote the use of bicycles and the development of a set of actions, in coordination with administrations, institutions and companies and adherents , about thirty at present.

The construction of cycle paths is one of the main lines of action of the 2023-2025 action plan. It includes up to 40 projects, which will mean the commissioning of nearly 125 kilometers of new cycle lanes throughout Catalonia. Of this forty projects, 17 are already in execution or bidding. The total planned investment, financed by European funds, is 94 million euros.

These projects correspond to new infrastructures for cyclists and pedestrians that are built parallel to existing roads of the Generalitat, actions included in other interventions to improve the road network, traffic calming or bus corridors.

One of the objectives is to promote the use of bicycles as a complement to public transport and increase the coverage of train stations. The action plan includes an item of 2 million euros for the adaptation of 30 of these spaces.

The promotion of the bicycle as a tourist, leisure and sports element is another of the axes of the strategy. Territori is working on the deployment of a 1,500-kilometre network of cycling routes. These are long-distance routes that want to play a role in the economic revitalization of the territory. In this case, sections of greenways and roads are mainly used, or roads with low traffic, with connections to existing routes of a more local nature and to the public transport network.

Among the performances included, the Mediterranean Route-EuroVelo 8 or the Lakes Route should be highlighted.

The Government will create, on the other hand, the Bicycle Office, attached to Territori.