The maximum driving speed on the AP-7 motorway will be limited to 80 kilometers per hour in a southerly direction between Barcelona and Gelida, in the same province, this Wednesday afternoon (from 3 to 9 p.m.) and Thursday morning ( from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) to “facilitate the flow” of vehicles in the operation leaving through the Hispanidad Bridge, the Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT) explained in a statement.
The director of Trànsit, Ramon Lamiel, has assessed, in a press conference with the Mossos d’Esquadra inspector Vanessa Bohé to present the mobility measures on the bridge, that this “is the speed that allows these incidents to be better limited between vehicles that then end up collapsing and interrupting traffic.”
He added that this will allow more capacity to be given to the road so that more vehicles can leave at the same time, and in these sections heavy vehicles will be obliged to circulate in the right lane and will be prohibited from overtaking.
For the return operation, on Sunday from 15 to 22 hours the AP-7 will be limited to 100 kilometers per hour, between Gelida and Martorell (Barcelona), there will be additional lanes in the direction of Barcelona between Sant Celoni and Montornès del Vallès, between Vilafranca del Penedès and Molins de Rei, and between Sant Andreu de Llavaneres and Montgat (Barcelona).
Trànsit’s forecast is that from this Wednesday at 3 p.m. until Thursday at the same time some 460,000 vehicles will leave the Barcelona metropolitan area, and it estimates that from Sunday at 12 p.m. until midnight some 260,000 will return.
In relation to controls, during the weekend there will be daily inspection flights for two-wheeled vehicles and specific controls for motorcycles on the road, which will be carried out by the Mossos d’Esquadra.
The police force will assign 1,594 officers to the mobility operation of this bridge, and they will carry out 1,260 controls: 340 for alcohol and drugs, 210 for passive security, 150 for motorists, 250 for distractions, 220 for speed and 90 for transport.
The operation from the 12-O bridge has started with delays, especially in the ring roads of the Catalan capital, in some points of up to eight kilometers.
According to Trànsit, between 3:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. a total of 189,707 vehicles have already left the Barcelona area, which is 41.2% of those planned and 11% more than in 2022.
In the first hours of this exit operation, delays of about eight kilometers have been recorded in some points, such as on the B-20 in Barcelona and on the AP-7 in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona).
