Save 6.3 billion hours of traffic delays with Catalonia’s €1 billion highway investment

Spain is set to invest over €1 billion into the main highways Ap-7 and AP-2 which run through Catalonia. This is thought to help reduce traffic delays by 6.3 million hours per year. 

The Ap-7 runs 474 kilometres between Alicante and Tarragona, whereas the AP-2 begins in Zaragoza, passes the small town of Lleida and ends at El Vendrell, 70 kilometres west of Barcelona, where it connects with the AP-7 road. The infrastructure improvements will take place across 224 kilometres of the motorways. 

The country’s transport minister Raquel Sanchez has announced that the economic boost will come over the next seven years from the Spanish government. This pledge was made last Friday during Sanchez’s visit to Catalonia’s capital city, Barcelona. 

“We expect to reduce traffic jams suffered by AP-7 and AP-2 highway users by 6.3 million hours of queues each year”, Sanchez said, as reported by catalannews.com 

Although a significant investment, it is predicted that the economic boost will allowed users to reduce €750 million. The aim of the project is to offer new connectivity options and increase the number of vehicles that can travel on the highways at one time in order to reduce travel delays. Currently it takes 1 hour and 46 minutes to travel from Lleida to Barcelona and 4 hours to drive from Alicante to Tarragona. 

Both the AP-7 and the AP-2 road are currently at “maximum capacity” according to the ministry’s infrastructure secretary general Xavier Flores. He intends to make both roads “more resilient and secure” for users. He said it cannot be the case that the whole road pace collapses if one truck gets a puncture in its tyre. 

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