The last month has been prolific in the start of works, premieres and announcements of new bike lanes in Barcelona. La Gran Via, Ramon Trias Fargas, Via Laietana, Santa Fe de Nou Mèxic, Joan de Borbó promenade... are some of the streets that add short or medium-term sections to an already long list of itineraries for cyclists in the city that They add up to a total of 257 kilometers. The socialist municipal government continues to expand this network, but despite the great mobilization of projects in recent weeks, the coming pace will be different from that of recent years. In the first half of 2023, 6 kilometers were opened and between now and next summer another 13 more will be added to reach 270. For later, in the rest of the mandate until 2027, there are no numerical forecasts. But in any case the interventions will be much more selective.
“We must keep in mind that Barcelona's cyclable streets go far beyond those with bike lanes; They extend for 1,150 kilometers if zones 30 and single-platform, pacified or pedestrian roads are included,” recalls Laia Bonet, first deputy mayor and head of Mobility. The sides of Passeig de Gràcia, the new green axes of the Eixample, such as Consell de Cent, or the neighborhoods with calm traffic, such as Vila de Gràcia, are examples of this broader vision. “We will address where it is necessary to expand the network – says the mayor –, mainly by connecting sections that do not have continuity, especially if they do not have alternatives to cycling.”
Cycling infrastructure has taken a great leap in recent years in the Catalan capital. In 2015 it had 120 kilometers of reserved lanes. The expansion – doubling the network – was one of the hallmarks of the municipal government of Ada Colau, most of the time in coalition between BComú and PSC. The new stage of Mayor Jaume Collboni is not expected to be so much volume, but rather focuses on improving existing itineraries and much more limited actions. “The network will continue to grow but it will be to provide better territorial coverage, not so much because it is requested to put a lane here or there,” Bonet says. Therefore, it will be fine-tuned because it is considered that there is an important structure that allows one to move easily and safely around the city. It could be said that it is about growing more in quality than in quantity.
In this scenario there is also the review of some axes, such as the recently opened Via Augusta, which has generated controversy and is awaiting the reports that the municipal government has commissioned to detail its impact on mobility as a whole. All the data – the accident rate, the impact on public transport or the private traffic flows on this avenue and on nearby streets are being analyzed – will be available at the end of the year. “Then we will see what needs to be adjusted if anything needs to be done,” says Bonet, aware of the cost of dismantling the work and that the Next Generation funds that were received for its construction should be returned. The political wear and tear that the image of the first socialist mayor of a large city who eliminates a bike lane would represent is also feared by municipal officials, who have the pressure of highly mobilized defenders on the one hand, and the affected drivers, on the other.
Collboni already defended during the May election campaign to continue promoting the use of bicycles and, in terms of lanes, he set priorities, mainly internal connections – “continuing with the expansion, prioritizing those lanes that provide more coherence and continuity to the network” – and also with the metropolitan area, “connecting lanes in Barcelona with those in other municipalities, executing the Bicivia plan (of the AMB) and studying new connections through bike lanes between neighboring municipalities.”
The metropolitan perspective is key for the socialist government. “Now we have eight bike lanes that connect with the surrounding municipalities and more must be done, in addition to continuing to link through zones 30 or pacified streets,” adds Bonet. The deputy mayor gives two examples: the future lane that will connect Esplugues with the Diagonal through Torre Melina, which La Vanguardia reported last Monday, and the extension of the Gran Via road beyond Plaza Cerdà to connect with the Bicivia. “The connection with l’Hospitalet is very important – she remembers – and will have a strong boost when AMBici (the metropolitan Bicing) is implemented at the beginning of next year.”
Another line of action that is maintained is to lower lanes that run on sidewalks to the road to avoid conflicts with pedestrians. In the last four years it has been done on 5.3 km of route, including on the Diagonal (between the Gràcia and Sant Joan avenues) or on the Gran Via (from Pau Claris to Marina). There are several projects in the pipeline, although the decision to move them forward has not yet been made. The most notable are the Diagonal (Badajoz-Josep Pla) or the Ramon Albó-Arnau d'Oms axis.
More complicated is the conversion into one-way lanes from what are now two-way lanes in streets in which the rest of the traffic is unidirectional. There are very notable cases, such as Urgell, which is expected to only be uphill when Villarroel is carried out, which will be downhill. But this is an action that still has no calendar because it depends on the works on the L8 Railway. Another action of this type is that of Calàbria, today double and which will be in the mountain direction when Viladomat has its bike lane – not yet programmed – towards the sea. A special case is that of Provença, a street that, having little motorized traffic – in the Llobregat direction – was given a bidirectional bike lane. Its widespread use has been causing problems for some time now. But neighboring Mallorca, under construction, has the same address and could not be a partner. The City Council is studying alternatives, such as opening another one in Rosselló or making Provença exclusive for bicycles and pedestrians. But they are only technical approaches. No decision has yet been made in this regard.
The actions carried out in recent times on the bike lane network are not to the liking of the BACC, the main user entity. For its president, Carles Benito, the quality of the projects is not desirable. "Initially they may be fine," he maintains, "but everyone ends up getting involved: the firefighters, the Urban Police, the garbage recycling companies... and in the end outrages are committed, we lose our money and safety is put at risk not only of cyclists also of other people.”
The BACC demands that the City Council act “considering the bicycle a vehicle in its own right” and that its infrastructure “be done well.” Otherwise, “it is better that they not be done,” insists its president. Benito also defends continuing to expand the network. “The city has more than 6,000 kilometers of lanes, of which only a tiny part are for bikes.”
Among the numerous negative examples that Benito cites, one stands out, the Gran Via lane that is being extended towards Plaza Cerdà. “It is no longer a black dot, it is a whole black line with a lot of confusion, sections with separators, others without them, entrances for buses, garbage trucks....” Municipal sources specify that this section replaces another that ran along the sidewalk and that has special characteristics. First, it goes on the right, when normally those with side lanes are placed on the left. This has been done to accommodate the addition of cars from the central trunk without interfering. There are also areas where bus stops have wide platforms that reduce space, forcing some points to be shared by bikes and the rest of the traffic limited to 30 km/h. And the areas without dividers are so that garbage trucks can enter punctually, to which bikes must give way.
