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bridge between the municipalities of Barcelona and Montcada and Reixac, an old aqueduct will be used to weave bridges between the neighborhoods of Can Cuiàs and Ciutat Meridiana. This is a historic claim by residents who save the current municipal borders as best they can. To go from one place to another to shop, to the doctor, to school or to the sports facilities, the children have to make a trip of more than half a kilometer over steep slopes. Another option is to take the metro or the bus. The other alternative, and no less common, is to take a shortcut by going down a ravine through a pass road, a point that is dangerous when it rains because it is a terrain prone to slips. For many years, the neighborhood has been asking the administrations to enable a footbridge in this infrastructure. A lawsuit that seems to be closer after repeated delays. Recently, the technicians of the Barcelona City Council carried out soundings to find out the constructive elements of the aqueduct in order to draw up the executive project for comprehensive rehabilitation and make it passable. Different options have been assessed and the final one is to place a structure on top of the monument itself. The forecast is that the project will be finished before the summer and the works will be done in the next term, according to municipal sources.
In 2015, neighborhood insistence allowed the proposal to be included in the action plan of the Nou Barris district, although it ultimately did not succeed. As part of the pact of the municipal government of communes and socialists with ERC in 2011 to invest in proximity projects in the districts, an item of 40,000 euros was made available to draft the project.
Neighbors welcome the measure, although they are skeptical. “I didn’t believe it until the metro arrived in Can Cuiàs. Well, the same with the aqueduct walkway, and more so now that the elections are coming!” comments a neighbor who has lived in Can Cuiàs for more than three decades. “The neighborhood is getting older and connectivity needs to be improved as much as possible”, says José Muñoz, 75 years old and resident of Ciutat Meridiana. “Around here you see many elderly people with shopping carts who go from Ciutat Meridiana to the shopping center of Can Cuiàs,” adds his wife, Pilar.
In addition to facilitating the mobility of residents between the two cities, the initiative aims to preserve this heritage that dates back to the 19th century. “It is a heritage element that gives personality, historical memory and must be preserved. It is also very positive to take advantage of it as a bridge to unite the two neighborhoods. We want the borders not to separate us and act as hinges”, emphasizes the president of the territorial area of ??the Montcada i Reixac City Council, Jordi Sánchez. The councilor recalls that within the framework of the Besòs Consortium, other connection projects between the two municipalities have been promoted, such as the construction of the Camí Oristà. The two Councils have also asked the Metropolitan Area of ??Barcelona to take over the management and maintenance of the Mirador de las Cultures, located on the small hill of Can Sant Joan, so that it becomes a metropolitan park.
Graffiti has also taken over different areas of this monument. The building is part of a major project, as the Vallès aqueduct is an installation that transported water to the city after the Rec Comtal was insufficient to supply an expanding city. The canalization had a length of about 18 kilometers and carried more than 1,700 cubic kilometers of water from the Sec and Ripoll rivers and the Caldes creek. The works started in 1825, according to the project of the municipal architect Josep Mas Vila, who was in charge of making the neoclassical facade of the Barcelona City Council, as recorded in an inventory of the local architectural heritage service of the Provincial Council of Barcelona. The hydraulic infrastructure maintained its function until the second half of the 20th century, when it was overwhelmed by the needs of the population increase, and that is why the channelization of the Ter river began. The old aqueduct remains waiting for a new life.