The Vuelta a España kicks off this Saturday in Barcelona with a team time trial that will show cycling fans from around the world the most emblematic places in the city. In turn, this powerful image of international scope will have its effects on the mobility of residents, who must postpone their trips on Saturday afternoon or adapt them to avoid the armored route for the proper development of the cycling event. The cut to the passage of vehicles and pedestrians will start before two in the afternoon and normality will not be recovered until nine at night.
"It is the most important impact on mobility that has ever occurred in Barcelona," says the Deputy Mayor for Security, Albert Batlle, who refers to the times of the Olympic Games and makes it clear that the cut on Saturday will be "extensive and intense". Extensive because there are 14.8 kilometers of streets cut off for seven hours and intense because the shielding of the space will be for cars but also for public transport and even pedestrians, who will not be able to cross from side to side as if nothing had happened except in the 78 specially enabled steps that will be opened punctually. In Tarragona street, a provisional bridge has even begun to be installed to join both sides of Plaza Espanya.
The mobilization of 260 Urban Police agents and 360 mobility assistants will be completed with fences on both sides of the road to guarantee that the necessary security measures are met for the passage of cycling teams, which will circulate at an average speed. of 50 km/h and will reach peaks of up to 80 km/h. The tour will start from Somorrostro beach and end on Avenida Maria Cristina after passing through such emblematic and iconic places as the Arc de Triomf, Torre Glòries, Sagrada Família and La Pedrera.
"In a team time trial, any point on the circuit is a good option, you just have to choose and get there as a pedestrian," sums up the Mayor of the Urban Police, Benito Granados. Whether it is to see the passing of the great cycling stars or to go to the beach, the recommendation of the municipal officials is to travel by metro since private vehicles and buses will have many limitations. In this sense, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) was even pressured months ago to speed up the schedule of the works that keeps line 4 between Barceloneta and Verdaguer interrupted this month of August, so that the works will be finished on Friday and the weekend the suburban service will already be recovered at 100%.
The emphasis that the City Council has placed on preventing the cut could lead one to think that the mobility panorama is going to be gruesome, but it is probably more due to an attempt to heal in health, knowing how nervous some drivers and motorcyclists tend to get the typical Sunday mornings in which the streets are filled with thousands of runners. In this case it is not a closed circular circuit and that guarantees that no one is isolated. The ring roads guarantee mobility around the Catalan capital and the Gran Via will allow you to cross the city from side to side thanks to the underground parts in Plaza Espanya and Sant Martí. Whoever has no choice or does not want to give up taking the car and is from the Eixample must take a further detour, but they will not be left without being able to leave.
A day later, on Sunday, the return operation for many who are ending their vacations will coincide with the second stage of the Vuelta. It will start in Mataró and end in Barcelona, although in this case the impact will be much less, limited between three and half past five in the afternoon. The caravan will enter the city via the Gran Via from l'Hospitalet after having crossed the Baix Llobregat. In Plaza Espanya it will turn towards Montjuïc to go up the mountain and end up in front of the Olympic stadium.
