The improvement of the current road access to the port of Barcelona has been activated. The Ministry of Transport has authorized the tender, which is expected to start in September, for the drafting of the construction project for the expansion of the Coastal roundabout between Can Tunis and El Morrot. The action, which includes the implementation of an additional lane in each direction, which for most of the route would be the fourth, and the reform of the accesses that connect with two entrances to the docks should lighten the circulation in this section, usually congested by the dense traffic of trucks entering and leaving the port facilities.
The intervention affects a three kilometer section of the Coastal roundabout that depends on the ministry and that has enough space in the central area, in the extensive medians, to place an additional lane in each direction, so that in the final scheme one lane can be allocated to heavy vehicles. This extension would start at the beginning of the Can Tunis railway complex and end at the height of the Montjuïc cemetery. When the road was designed, it was already foreseen that it could be extended in this way and the possibility of doing so had been being considered for years. The Transports forecast is that the drafting of the construction project will require a couple of years. The works could then be tendered, which will take between 18 and 24 months, according to current estimates. The action is estimated to cost 37 million euros.
Although the most visible improvement for general traffic will be the implementation of the new lane in each direction, the improvement of the accesses to the port area is also relevant, as it will expand the capacity of entry and exit mainly for trucks which, due to the current limitations, often generate queues that have an impact on the round. The performance will take place at the connections with gates 28 and 29 of the port. The first is at the height of the Zona Franca promenade, and the second, at the Montjuïc cemetery. In both cases, an absolute remodeling has been planned that includes the construction of large roundabouts to facilitate circulation and connections.
This project does not affect the reform that must be made of the adjacent section of the Coastal roundabout that runs through the Morrot, bordering Montjuïc, ministerial sources say. This other action, also pending for years, requires the agreement of the City Council and the port. Transports envisaged in an informative study approved in 2018, which also included the previously explained section from three kilometers to reach 5.6, with a total investment of 119 million, to expand the road infrastructure that here only has two lanes in each direction, which causes significant congestion, with a second viaduct that would double the capacity. But due to the rejection expressed by the other two parties, he finally left the issue in a drawer. There are other proposals, still to be specified, that consider acting on the surface and undertaking a more extensive urban remodeling that would include the relocation of the Morrot railway station.
