Skip to main content

Barcelona’s strategy to cut car traffic

Barcelona is to deploy a strategy using a variety of approaches to cut car traffic by more than 20 per cent to improve air quality in the city, particularly nitrogen dioxide and particulates. Barcelona's busy harbour and crowded streets mean that air pollution in the city is a constant challenge. The city's Mobility Plan includes reforms to parking charges, the bus network, and the concept of 'superblocks', where access to certain areas is restricted to private vehicles. Previous versions of the conce
March 18, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Barcelona is to deploy a strategy using a variety of approaches to cut car traffic by more than 20 per cent to improve air quality in the city, particularly nitrogen dioxide and particulates.

Barcelona's busy harbour and crowded streets mean that air pollution in the city is a constant challenge. The city's Mobility Plan includes reforms to parking charges, the bus network, and the concept of 'superblocks', where access to certain areas is restricted to private vehicles.

Previous versions of the concept have banned access to all vehicles within a defined zone, with the exception of emergency services, delivery vehicles and those of residents.

Barcelona may only permit access to private vehicles on certain weekends. Five pilot areas have been created across the city to demonstrate how the concept might work. It is also hoped that the move will cut traffic accidents by 20 per cent.

Barcelona's mayor, Xavier Trias, said "The challenge is to ensure that the economic recovery is accompanied by more sustainable and safe mobility."

Related Content

  • New technology revolution in urban traffic control?
    January 26, 2012
    Urban traffic control is a well-defined and practised art. Nevertheless, there are technologies here and on the horizon with the potential to revolutionise how we do things. By Gavin Jackman and Andrew Kirkham, TRL, and Jason Barnes. Distributed monitoring and control of urban traffic networks and flows is nothing new. PC-based Urban Traffic Control (UTC) is now well established and operating in many locations around the world. However, it is worth considering the effects of the huge growth in the use of sm
  • Phoenix rises to the Smart City challenge
    December 10, 2015
    Andrew Bardin Williams looks at the City of Phoenix where voters backed a $30bn plan to revamp its transportation network to cultivate a more connected community. According to a Land Use Institute study, half of all Americans and even more millennials (63%) would like to live in a place where they do not need to use a car very often. The City of Phoenix is putting in place plans to revamp its urban development and transportation policies to meet these changing quality of life perceptions.
  • CES 2021 | Connecting cities
    March 1, 2021
    Covid-19 forced the Las Vegas Convention Center to close its doors for CES 2021, but the trade show’s online debut suggests the pandemic is helping cities
  • Silos are last century’s thinking
    April 21, 2016
    After 45 years in transportation, Ken Philmus sees the need for major change in a sector currently ill-prepared to meet the challenge of funding and rapidly advancing technological change. Having worked in both the public and private sectors, Ken Philmus, currently senior vice president of transportation solutions at Xerox, appreciates both approaches, but times are changing and he believes the sector needs to change too. “I like trains, planes and automobiles but I love the concept of mobility and that’s w