Starting next autumn, the C-16 highway – between Terrassa and Manresa – and the C-32 – between Sitges and El Vendrell – will be free for drivers of light vehicles (cars and vans) who make a one-way trip and another back within 24 hours at the same toll gate. To benefit from this bonus, which will be applied from Monday to Friday excluding holidays, users must previously register in the mandatory mobility registry and use a dynamic payment system (Vía-T or the Satelise or Awai applications).
The objective of the measure is to facilitate travel to go to work or study and promote territorial equity, while optimizing high-capacity roads, decongesting conventional roads and improving road safety.
Additionally, the Manresa ring road remains free of charge at the side barrier, with origin or destination in the north, with prior registration of the vehicle registration or any means of dynamic payment. Likewise, the rest of the discounts on working days (Monday to Friday, excluding holidays) are homogenized into a 40.5% bonus on the Manresa-Terrassa section for rush hour journeys (from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.), for all fare categories, with dynamic payment.
On the other hand, it must be remembered that the current discounts for vehicles with high occupancy (40% bonus) and zero and low emissions vehicles (30% and 75%, respectively) continue under the same terms.
In addition to the discounts to promote the use of the C-16, the Bages Mobility Strategy includes a set of actions to improve the functionality and safety of the C-55. In this sense, the Regional Minister of Territory of the Generalitat, Ester Capella, has reported that more than 96 million euros will be allocated for the execution of seven works on the aforementioned road.
Among the planned actions, the C-55 will be expanded with a second lane in the north, continuously, from Sant Vicenç de Castellet to Manresa; a variant will be projected in Castellgalí; and an additional lane will be built in Castellbell and Vilar.
Regarding the section of the C-32 between Sitges and Vendrell, it is worth remembering that currently mandatory mobility users benefit from a 75% discount. Movements originating or destined for the AP-7 South, which are long-distance or with origin or destination outside the scope of the C-32 highway, will continue to be excluded from free travel.
Capella explained that the objective of the measure that will be applied starting in the autumn on the aforementioned section of the C-32 is precisely to “lighten traffic on the C-31” and recalled that “in Penedès, the lack of reliability of Cercanías pushes many people to use private vehicles.”
The Minister of Territory explained that the Generalitat wants to go further and “implement the vignette system throughout the entire network of high-capacity roads in Catalonia, regardless of ownership, following the criteria of those who use the most and pollute the most, the most. pay”. This model would allow Catalonia to improve mobility management, finance the maintenance of all Catalan high-capacity roads and also promote sustainable mobility, investing in public transport the resources that are now allocated to these infrastructures.