Not even two euros a liter of petrol has prevented the main motorways in Catalonia from collapsing during the long weekend we have had. As happens every time there is an exit operation, the collapse is assured because it is impossible that the infrastructure that is designed for tens of thousands of cars can absorb in a few hours the half a million vehicles leaving the metropolitan area. of Barcelona. This is happening to us now, it has happened to us before and, without the need to have divinatory skills, it will continue to happen to us.
Just remember the historical images of the seventies with the roads of the Maresme and Garraf coast full of Seat 600 queuing to enter Barcelona to know that traffic congestion is not a problem today. but it is a chronic evil. Like last weekend, before we saw it for Easter, we will see it in a few days with the eve of St. John and it will be repeated in late July with the arrival of the high point of the summer holidays. The long queues are part of the landscape at very specific times in the calendar and one has to wonder if this situation, unbearable for those who are trapped, has a solution. And the answer seems to be no, no matter how hard you try.
No country plans its road infrastructure to respond to exceptional times. We all agree that having highways ready to serve half a million cars three or four days a year is unsustainable, both economically and environmentally. However, this does not preclude those who manage traffic and infrastructure from making effective decisions to minimize their impact, whether by enabling additional lanes, agreeing on occasional restrictions with carriers, or improving traffic routes.
Now we can debate the impact that the elimination of tolls has had on the main Catalan motorways, after decades of religiously paying every inch of asphalt, or we can shield ourselves in the coincidence with the Grand Prix of motorcycling in Montmeló, which it has made things more complicated, but it is an indisputable fact that the capacity of the roads has limits. We see it on specific dates, but we also suffer it daily in many sections and, especially, at the entrances to the city of Barcelona.
Having said that, it is pertinent to ask about the mobility model we have. Speeches and theory tell us that the alternative is public transportation, but is it? Is the railway network we have in Catalonia today a real alternative to the private car? I doubt that anyone can support this claim because, among other reasons, we have accumulated decades of lack of investment in infrastructure, as revealed year after year by state investment data in Catalonia.
Precisely, if something raises unanimity on the Catalan economic and political board is the endemic fiscal ill-treatment of the State in Catalonia, which affects all citizens and all companies equally, no matter how they think. It will be wrong for anyone to try to caricature the situation by saying that this is the song of the pro-independence activists.
With the data from the Ministry of Finance in hand, in 2021, only 740 million investments were executed in Catalonia, 36% of the budget, while in Madrid the State invested 2,086 million, which means an execution of 184%. And this photo is no exception, because it has been repeated for years, no matter who rules in Moncloa. It doesn’t matter if the president is Pedro Sánchez or Mariano Rajoy. He rides so much, he rides so much.
Talking about mobility in the Barcelona area and on the main roads is also talking about investments. Therefore, if we only look at the collapse of the highways without taking into account all the infrastructure that has been left in the drawer for centuries, especially on the railway network, we will hardly be able to find useful answers. In Catalonia, we are stuck on the roads and have been waiting in the queue for investments for a long time. Once again, the Spanish government has promised to correct this situation, although we already know that the paper holds everything, but the patience of the citizens may not last long.
