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Diari de Catalunya

AP-7 Highway Faces Structural Collapse Due to Rising Traffic and Lack of Investment

The highway has seen an increase of 30.000 daily vehicles in five years while the fourth lane project remains stalled.

Generic image of a congested highway with long lines of cars and heavy trucks.
IA

Generic image of a congested highway with long lines of cars and heavy trucks.

The AP-7 highway is experiencing a critical surge in traffic between Barcelona and Penedès, with daily vehicle counts rising from 77.000 to 107.000 over the last five years according to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce.

The removal of tolls in 2021, combined with the housing crisis in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, has forced thousands of residents to commute longer distances. This social shift is compounded by a boom in road logistics due to insufficient rail freight investment.
Infrastructure conditions are deteriorating, with increasing reports of road surface damage. While a fourth lane project between Martorell and Vilafranca has been under review since 2023, critics fear it may only encourage more traffic rather than solving the underlying congestion.
Out of the 30.000 additional daily vehicles, approximately 7.000 are heavy-duty trucks. This saturation highlights that the highway network, designed 60 years ago, is no longer fit for 21st-century mobility demands.

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