The only access road to Cadaqués, the regional Gi-614, is a narrow, winding road with many sections of poor visibility, which prevents safe progress. Collapses that occur during summer, holiday periods or bridges to be able to visit this tourist town on the Costa Brava are common. The retentions have sometimes exceeded 10 kilometers. And many times those long queues of cars have bikes at the front. According to the mayor of the municipality, Pia Seriñana, the flow of cyclists, both professionals and amateurs, is common throughout the year because this is a mountain pass that appears in many cycling guides. But it is in the summer, with a high volume of traffic, when the situation becomes more dangerous.
For years, the City Council has been calling for the restriction of bicycles in certain periods such as the summer to “facilitate the flow” of traffic and “improve the safety” of the Gi-614, which connects Roses with Cadaqués, but also of the Gi-613 that connects with Port de la Selva. According to data from the Catalan Traffic Service (SCT), since 2018, a total of 21 accidents involving cyclists have been recorded on these two roads, resulting in 25 casualties, although none of them have been fatal. The number of minor or serious injuries has practically doubled in the last five years (2018-2022) compared to the period 2007-2017. In 2019, the record number of 8 injured in seven accidents was reached.
A claim, that of restricting access to bikes in the summer months, holidays and vacations, that the Consistory put on the table again this week during a meeting with the territorial director of the Interior in Girona, Joan Mayoral. “It is the only access road to Cadaqués, it has a very high volume of traffic and the bikes often collapse the road and in the summer there is the added risk of the possibility of fires”, says the mayoress. A stretch that under normal conditions can be done in 20 minutes can exceed an hour if the caravan of cars is behind a cyclist. In this sense, Seriñana is in favor of setting a time when bicycles are allowed, for example from 6 to 9 in the morning in the summer, or from 7 in the evening, when there is less commercial traffic and tourists, and keep the road clear of cyclists for the rest of the day. “Some go at 2 in the afternoon in extreme heat on board an electric or mountain bike, it is also a risk for their health”, he adds.
The director of the Catalan Traffic Service, Ramon Lamiel, states that they do not plan to ban bikes on this road, but that some measures are being studied to help “order” the traffic and reduce the number of accidents. One of the possible actions is the implementation of a signaling system that would warn drivers of the presence of cyclists on the road, such as the one that will be launched in a tunnel on the N-145, between La Seu d’Urgell and Andorra . A motion sensor will detect the entry of a cyclist into the tunnel and a light signal will be activated asking the driver to reduce speed. The SCT is also working on the implementation of an app that would alert the driver that there is a cyclist a few meters away and also wants to regulate training in certain periods to prevent too many cyclists on the same road.
Cadaqués City Council calls for the installation of fixed information panels that allow road users to know whether or not there are delays to access the town. “A dissuasive element that would allow motorists who don’t want to queue, to make a U-turn”, explains Seriñana. The alternative last summer were mobile panels provided by the SCT. It also requests that on the days when level two or three of the Alfa plan is activated due to fire risk, the passage of motorhomes, tourist buses and trucks that have difficult maneuverability is also restricted.
