The folder on which the negotiations of the Generalitat's budgets between socialists and republicans have focused in recent days houses a long history of technical projects and pacts and political and social disagreements. The fourth belt has tightened beautifully. And he will continue to do so. The northern ring road of Vallès, which connects Sabadell and Terrassa where the El Prat golf club is now located, is a tiny part of a great road designed at the end of the 1960s. Known as B-40 in its meaning more aseptic, its objective was to bypass the metropolitan region of Barcelona with a high-capacity road in the shape of a parabola from Maresme to Garraf passing through Vallès and Baix Llobregat.
It took many years for this infrastructure to begin to see the light, in small discontinuous portions. The way things are, it will be difficult for all of its layout thought out half a century ago to be a complete reality. Today, only the two sections at its ends (Vilanova-Vilafranca and Mataró-Granollers), both built by the Generalitat, are fully operational, as well as two small intermediate segments (Abrera-Olesa and Viladecavalls-Terrassa), the responsibility of the Central government. Between these last two there is another one under construction, which has been delayed several times due to technical and economic setbacks and which the Ministry of Transport plans to finish next September. This part will connect the north of Baix Llobregat with El Vallès without having to resort to the AP-7. The rest of the B-40 is in various stages of planning... and of torpor.
The extension from Terrassa to Sabadell is the section on which the budget negotiations have focused. The construction of the fast track has the support of the city councils of both cities, which agreed a year ago with the Government – then made up of ERC and Junts – to push it forward with a route agreed upon by all and financing from the central government. The latter agreed to transfer to the Generalitat the planning and economic items necessary for its construction, but no document was ever signed because the Catalan Executive decided to plant the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, the day he was going to present the agreement. The PSC motion approved this Thursday in Parliament with the favorable vote of ERC advocates recovering this scheme and unraveling the point, despite the clear opposition that the Minister of Territories, Juli Fernández, had expressed up to now, a rejection that he had already expressed in his period as mayor of Sabadell.
The proposals that have been made so far for this section of the Vallès Occidental point to the fact that the road would begin where it now ends, at a roundabout to the north of Terrassa, and would continue east to reach Sabadell, also to the north of this city. There it would connect with the C-58c, which runs through the west of this city and then it would reach the B-124 of Castellar del Vallès. In the middle is the El Prat golf course, one of the stumbling blocks of the project, for which no option is ruled out, nor is it part of the underground road with the intention of minimizing the impact. They are lucubrations since a project has never been drawn up. The construction of the highway means for the two large cities of the region diverting traffic passing through their urban centers and reformulating spaces in which the car is now king, such as the Gran Via de Sabadell.
The majority support in this section does not transfer to what would be its continuation, from Sabadell to Granollers. The project has been the subject of long discussions with a large number of proposals from both the central government and the Generalitat at various times, with informative studies and expired procedures. It is the most controversial of all, since it passes through agricultural areas and areas of high scenic value, such as Gallecs. That is why it has received strong opposition from environmental groups and city councils, which have varied according to the political color of the moment. The Campaign against the Quart Cinturó, with more than 200 entities, has fought the project vigorously, especially in this part. Only the ministry seems determined to promote it, so for now it is parked.
The sections that have been built up to now of the fourth ring road have mainly served to connect some municipalities with others quickly, avoiding often winding country roads, since in most cases they cross mountainous areas. This is the case on the C-60 or Parpers tunnels (opened in 1995), which links Mataró with Granollers, and the C-15 (2011), which links Vilanova i Geltrú with Vilafranca del Penedès. Both were executed by the Generalitat.
Regarding the project to connect Abrera and Vilafranca del Penedès, which had different layout proposals, including the N-340, it was replaced by a reinforcement of the AP-7 by expanding a fourth lane in each direction. between this last town and Martorell. It was the decision chosen to avoid the construction of a new road between the vineyards of the Penedès. However, the drafting of the construction project did not begin until last year, once the toll barriers were raised. In parallel, there is another small stretch planned for which the informative study is being drawn up. This is the connection of the AP-7 with the A-2 in Abrera and the B-40, an action that should order the Martorell junction and facilitate the connection with the fourth ring road.
