Speed limit to be reduced in parts of Catalonia's AP-7 highway

Part of Catalonia’s main highway, AP-7, will see its speed limit reduced in an effort to reduce accidents. 

An agreement between the Catalan traffic service and the Spanish government presented on Wednesday will see stretches of the road that currently allow drivers to go at up to 120km/h be given lower limits. 

According to Ramon Lamiel of the Catalan Traffic Service, this "will allow us to intervene and act where there is the highest concentration of victims" as well as in areas where there can be more traffic. Heavy traffic is common, especially on holidays, as the highway has been toll-free for a bit over a year. The number of vehicles on the road has gone up around 40%, which has also led to more traffic and more accidents. 

For instance, the 19km section running parallel to the B-30 road, crossing Barcelona’s northern metropolitan area near Sabadell, Cerdanyola del Vallès, and Sant Cugat del Vallès, the speed limit will be 100km/h or lower in parts, varying depending on traffic, safety incidents, pollution conditions, or weather conditions. 

The speed limit will also be reduced to 100km/h between Calafat (l'Ametlla de Mar) and l'Ampolla.

A speed radar will be added between Altafulla and Constantí heading south.

At the Girona bypass, one of the four lanes will be converted into a road reserved for entry and exit.

These changes are expected to come into effect in at most two months, although authorities are yet to specify exact dates. 

Catalonia's "mobility problem"

Lamiel conceded that Catalonia has a "mobility problem" especially when it comes to "travel from the Barcelona area to holiday hotspots," when speaking in an interview with radio station RAC1 in June.

After the June bank holiday weekend, a staggering 238,700 vehicles – many of them full of urbanites returning from a weekend of leisure along the coast or inland – made their way back to the Barcelona area on the Monday night. The AP-7 highway, which runs all the way from southern Spain to the French border and is now toll-free, was by far the busiest: in Catalonia, at one point, cars were in bumper-to-bumper traffic for almost 40 km in both directions.

The Catalan government indicated during the summer that it would be in favor of lowering the highway's speed limit to prevent accidents as drivers sometimes fail to maintain safe distances between cars.

RACC, one of Catalonia's largest car insurance companies, argued reducing speed limits would not help traffic jams, and said reckless drivers were to blame for accidents, not the speed limit.