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

  • Barcelona 'superblocks' mobility project gets EIB support
    August 11, 2020
    Moves to prioritise pedestrians are part of €95m investment in Spanish city
  • Dignity should be key measure of MaaS success
    December 4, 2020
    Money isn’t everything: what if we made dignity into the key measure of success for MaaS? Crissy Ditmore sets out her vision statement for the industry’s developers
  • Progress towards a pan-European cooperative infrastructure
    July 17, 2012
    Kallistratos Dionelis, General Secretary of ASECAP, makes the case for a lightly regulated, staged progression towards a pan-European cooperative infrastructure environment, the achievement of which should look to engender cooperation between the public and private sectors. Such an approach, he says, is the only real path to success.
  • Videalert provides full time enforcement with part time workload
    March 19, 2014
    Videalert says its algorithms on automated enforcement can reduce the workload on staff while providing an effective deterrent to offenders. Colin Sowman reports. While members of the public may believe that the enforcement of parking regulations, bus lanes and box junctions has no practical benefit and is purely a money-making operation, for many authorities the opposite is true. Enforcement is a loss-making but vital exercise as illegally parked vehicles create obstructions and dangers leading to gridl