Barcelona launches corridor studies to overhaul major entry routes and cut car traffic
The city council commissioned assessments for Avinguda Diagonal, Gran Via, and Ronda Litoral to guide public transport infrastructure through 2050.
Redesigning metropolitan gateways
Barcelona City Council launched three public tenders on 30 September 2026 to study the overhaul of its primary road corridors and reduce persistent traffic jams. The contracts, managed through municipal company Bimsa, will select specialized teams in engineering, architecture, and urban mobility. These teams will analyze traffic flow and formulate proposals to redistribute roadway space along major access arteries. The initiative spans four key entry points: Avinguda Meridiana, Avinguda Diagonal, Gran Via Nord, and the joint axis of Gran Via Sud and Ronda Litoral Sud. Municipal planners aim to ease long-standing vehicular congestion, increase public transit capacity, and align access routes with future urban development. The technical reports will set baseline planning projections across three specific time horizons: 2030, 2040, and 2050.
Commuter patterns across metropolitan rings
Municipal transport figures indicate that roughly 2.1 million inbound and outbound trips connect Barcelona with neighbouring municipalities on an average day. Within the city limits, sustainable transportation options dominate, with more than 80% of all local journeys made on foot, by bicycle, or via public transit. Private car dependency grows substantially as commuters travel from farther reaches of the province. Approximately 1.2 million daily journeys take place between Barcelona and the first metropolitan ring, where private motor vehicles account for 41% of trips. An additional 200,000 journeys connect the capital to the wider Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB). The remaining 700,000 daily trips involve the wider metropolitan region and province, where private car use rises to 57% in towns such as Terrassa and Mataró, and reaches 63% across the rest of the province.
- First metropolitan ring
- 41 %
- Metropolitan region
- 57 %
- Rest of province
- 63 %
- First metropolitan ring
- 1.2 million trips
- Rest of region and province
- 0.7 million trips
- Rest of AMB
- 0.2 million trips
Specific plans for Meridiana and Diagonal
The assessment for Avinguda Meridiana is already in progress, running alongside a draft reurbanization plan for the road segment between Fabra i Puig and the Sarajevo bridge. This northern stretch represents the final phase in restructuring an avenue that historically operated as an urban motorway for traffic arriving from the Valles area. Planners are examining an extension of the high-occupancy vehicle and bus lane (carril VAO) to link interurban buses from the C-58 motorway directly to the future La Sagrera station. The proposal also includes studying the relocation and expansion of the existing Fabra i Puig bus interchange. In the western sector, the city will tender a dedicated mobility assessment for the Porta Diagonal corridor, which handles substantial vehicular pressure from the Baix Llobregat region.
Technical scope and regional coordination
The technical studies for all four corridors are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2027. Through these assessments, the municipal government seeks objective data on commuting routes, modes of travel, and suburban residential origins to influence regional infrastructure decisions. The resulting blueprints will define design standards so these entry points continue serving as local and regional transit corridors while cutting private vehicle reliance. Achieving these mobility targets will require coordination between the municipal administration and regional government authorities across Catalonia.
