Operators and machines are working at multiple points on Via Laietana with the aim of having the first section of the remodeling, between Urquinaona and Antoni Maura squares, ready in September, after 17 months of work, three more than planned , mainly due to the appearance of archaeological remains in several areas. When this phase ends, the second will begin, until Paseo de Colomb, with a much wider calendar: 21 months. Merchants don’t like the inconveniences they’ve already experienced going on for so long and are asking for changes.
“The City Council let us know that the duration of the second phase of the works could reach twenty months – says David González, from the association that brings together most of the businesses in the area. It’s a brutal affectation! Much more than we expected. We ask the new government to speed up the works as much as possible”. But what worries them most are the effects on public transport. “At the moment, citizens can go down the entire axis, but from September they will not be able to go up either by bus or by taxi. People will have to do some incredible laps. This situation will fuel our isolation even more, but it will also generate problems in the Born and the Gothic”.
The improvement works on line 4 of the metro – which passes under Via Laietana – which will be carried out in the summer will force the closure of the service between Verdaguer and Bogatell from June 26 to July 31 and on the Verdaguer-Barceloneta section from August 1 to 28, and will require a replacement shuttle bus that has been thought to go along this entire avenue under remodeling, in both directions. Thus, during this time the road will be used in the same way as when it is the final road. Now only the stretch of the second phase is open in the direction of the mountain, still without works, but only for residents, access to car parks and services. Further up, up to Urquinaona, it remains closed.
In the area that is being transformed, the sidewalks have grown and the roadway has been reduced. The definitive section is almost ready, although the pavement is missing in many areas, the furniture, streetlights, vegetation… The lanes were painted on Sunday following the final scheme. On the way down, one shared for buses, taxis and bikes and another for general traffic limited to 30 km/h, although in yellow, as it needs to be asphalted, an operation that was expected to be done this month and which happened in September, when the metro intervention ends. The climb, when it reopens, will consist of one lane for buses and local traffic, and another exclusively for bikes. During the second phase, this direction will be closed in the section that will be remodeled, which will make it difficult for buses to pass in this direction.
Although there are New Jersey fences and barriers in many areas, the new Via Laietana is already palpable. The most backward area is Plaça Antoni Maura, especially next to Avinguda de la Catedral, where some of the archaeological remains that have been discovered remain in the open air. It contrasts with the part given to Francesc Cambó, which is very advanced and already has new paving and flower beds on a large part of its surface. At the other end, on Carrer Jonqueres, included in this macro project and formerly devoted to uphill traffic to access Urquinaona and now for pedestrians, the row of trees has already been installed and its paving as a platform is being completed unique
