Fifty-six initiatives relating to urbanisation projects, infrastructures and service improvements are to be carried out over the summer months. These notably include the start of the work for establishing the first four green hubs in Eixample, urbanization of the Espai Barça’s surroundings and various railway-related projects which will help to increase the quality and level of public transport services.
As regards urbanisation initiatives, preliminary work will begin in mid-July for creating the first four Barcelona Superblock green hubs in Eixample. Structural work will start in August involving changes to mobility in the work zone. There will be no disruptions to public transport.
Urbanisation work will also commence along C/ Menéndez Pelayo and Avinguda de Joan XXIII, as part of the Barça Space’s series of initiatives. Soo too will work for urbanizing and establishing green zones in the La Marina del Prat Vermell neighbourhood, in Torre Baró and in Colònia Castells.
The months of July, August and September will see the continuation of work already started, such as along Via Laietana and C/ Pi i Margall to turn it into a friendly highway and with a traffic lane in each direction. Some initiatives for improving quality of life and mobility in neighbourhoods will finish during the holiday period, such as the widening of pavements at the junction between C/ Pelai and C/ Balmes and remodelling work along C/ Tànger, C/ Pamplona and C/ Àlaba and improvement work on pavements and the lighting system along C/ Villarroel, between Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes and C/ Provença.
Renovation and improvement work on the metro, railway, commuter railway and tram networks
There will be disruptions to services along the Sagrera-Horta section until 31 July and along the L5 Sagrera-Carmel section from 1 to 31 August, owing to renovation work on railway tracks, ballast, sleepers and fastening.
In addition, the L3 metro service will close in August owing to asbestos-removal work on elements. That means Drassanes station will be out of service from 1 to 17 August, with a partial service from Zona Universitària to Paral·lel and from Liceu to Trinitat Nova. Liceu station will also be affected: trains will not be stopping at the Zona Universitària-direction platform from 11 to 19 July or at the Trinitat Nova-direction platform from 20 to 31 July.
September will see the start of diversions for services affected by the civil engineering work on the new Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC) railway line 8, between Plaça Espanya and Gràcia. Several initiatives will therefore need to go ahead this summer along Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, C/ Comte d’Urgell and Plaça de Gal·la Placídia.
Essential track changes will be made on the High Speed Adif towards the end of the summer to put the new Sant Andreu station into operation. And the Barcelona-Granollers line’s tracks will be permanently put in place inside the La Sagrera i de Sant Andreu stations. Work on the tramline will be carried out at the same time throughout the summer on several points in Av Diagonal and on Sarrià station for the metro L9 line.
Expansion of the cyclist network
The most will be made of July and August for making progress in and completing work on the new bike lanes that has already started along C/ Sants and C/ Manso, and which will continue in Sant Andreu Sud.
Work has also been planned for improving the safety of road surfaces along Ronda Litoral, during the month of July, and along Gran Via, between C/ Padilla AND c/ Lepant, in august. Finally, several initiatives are also being planned for guaranteeing the quality of urban utilities with important repairs to the primary drinking-water, electricity and gas networks.
As is now usual, most of the work has been planned for the summer, to make the most of the period with less road mobility and less teaching and sports activity, thereby keeping any inconvenience to local residents to a minimum.