It is usual that to celebrate the St. John's Eve, you need to spend a good amount of time in the car beforehand. Many of those who travel to enjoy this special night do so by road. And, of course, very high volumes of traffic concentrated in a very few hours cause problems. It happened again yesterday, with the lure of the heat pushing it out, so that once again some roads, especially those along the coast, both north and south of the Barcelona area. Once again, the AP-7 was the most used and, in the end, the most congested of the entire road network in Catalonia.
The Catalan Traffic Service already pointed out that the day would be complicated, with around 460,000 vehicles leaving the metropolitan area between three in the afternoon yesterday and the same time today. The Mossos d'Esquadra deployed around 700 road controls in the areas with the highest number of trips and in the urban centers. They have also increased surveillance and control of areas with large crowds with 2,500 officers, a hundred more than last year.
The first detentions were at noon. Before two o'clock, the breakdown of a truck on the AP-7, at the height of Martorell, forced to cut a southbound lane, which caused queues of 14 kilometers from Sant Cugat del Vallès . In the north, the same motorway recorded delays of 15 kilometers between Sant Cugat and Barberà del Vallès, and 20 km between Barberà and la Roca. The C-32 had problems in the Maresme, in the north, and the A-2 in several sections; the eleven kilometers in the direction of Lleida between Castellbisbal and Sant Vicenç dels Horts stood out. The Costa Brava roads (C-35 in Llagostera towards Platja d'Aro, C-65 between Llagostera and Cassà de la Selva in the direction of Santa Cristina d'Aro and the GI-600 between Blanes and Tordera) also had delays . Inside, there were queues on the C-55, between Monistrol and Castellgalí, in the direction of Manresa) and at several points on the C-16.
To avoid traffic jams and prevent accidents, a package of measures was put in place, among which stands out an additional lane on the AP-7 in the north direction of 53 kilometers between Montornès del Vallès and Sils, the longest to date on this highway . In the south, between Barcelona and Gelida, the speed limit was set at 80 km/h.
And, after the party, to collect. In Barcelona, where the Guàrdia Urbana has deployed around 400 agents before, during and after the revetles, the beaches, as usual, have been the favorite place for thousands of people. At the end of the day, the municipal police, with the help of the Mossos, remove the sand, so that the cleaning brigades - more than 1,200 workers with around 600 vehicles - can leave them in condition for today, which is expected to return to be a very hot day, let the bathers enjoy it.
