A pharaonic project

The Barcelona Fourth Ring Road (hereafter referred to as the "Quart Cinturó") is a new motorway project between Abrera and Sant Celoni. As such, it would be the first part of the so called Eje Prelitoral Catalán (the Catalonian precoastal trunk road)that, running parrallel to the existing A7 motorway, would stretch from the frontier with France as far as Valencia. The undertaking of this project is dependent on the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Environment-MOPTMA (infrastructure directory Plan 1993-2007) and has had a green light from the Catalan government (the Generalitat); it is included in their roads plan for Catalonia. The preconstruction study of the Quart Cinturó has been legally put forward in the official government bulletin (BOE, January 18, 1996).

Is this ring road necessary?
The administrative bodies give three reasons in justifying its construction:

1. Improve local communication.
2. Solve the high traffic demands predicted on the motorway A7 by the year 2000.
3. Facilitate communication with France, avoiding the urban area of Barcelona, be it into the centre (by way of the National road 11) or towards the south by way of the future Pre-coastal Trunk road.

Nevertheless,it is not envisaged that the Quart Cinturó will go anywhere towards solving the very real problems of local communication. Other solutions are available which are both economically and environmentally more reasonable, such as the improvement and full use of existing roads, motorways and railways.

Nor can we accept this supposed increase in traffic on the A7 motorway where, since the opening of the Barcelona bypasses(the "Rondes"), there has been a 30% drop in traffic.

Furthermore, road cummunication between the Iberian peninsula and the French frontier is already amply covered on a north-south axis by the motorway A7, which has far from reached a level of saturation (a fact acknowledged by MOPTMA itself). In addition, the dual carriageway trunk road Girona-Vic-Manresa-Lleida, already in an advanced stage of construction, will guarantee an alternative itinerary for vehicles to and from central Spain.

Clearly, the construction of the Quart Cinturó is NOT justified on the official problem-solving line. The real reason for the Quart Cinturó lies in the Generalitat's economic and territorial models for Catalonia, which condemn the city's neighbouring areas to total urbanization.

The Quart Cinturó and the General Territorial Plan for Catalonia (PTGC, Pla Territorial General de Catalunya)

The present PTGC (The Generalitat's foremost instrument in planning and designating land use) has been drawn up using purely economic criteria, failing to carry out its responsibility apropos land use . The PTGC proposes the construction of a large road and motorway network (Catalonia Roads Plan) that would facilitate cheap and easy urbanization of the area, supposedly bringing with it economic growth for Catalonia.

As for the affected area itself, the PTGC considers land with a 20% slope or less suitable for development (in other words,everywhere except the mountains),with the Quart Cinturó acting as the backbone for this new "developmentalist" thrust. Thus, in the offices of our accountants a future is being designed that would incorporate the Maresme, The Vallès, Garraf and Alt Penedès into "Greater Barcelona", forming a metropolitan conglomerate of 4.7 million inhabitants.

Quart Cinturo map