By Sunday afternoon, 201,319 vehicles had returned to the Barcelona metropolitan area, the Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT), Catalonia's traffic authority, reported. That was 77% of the 260,000 vehicles expected during the return operation for the long weekend around the Diada, Catalonia's National Day.
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For people returning from coastal and tourist areas, the volume of traffic meant lengthy delays on several main routes into and across Catalonia. The figures were published on Sunday, rather than reflecting conditions on Monday morning.
AP-7, C-16 and N-260 saw the longest queues
In an update issued shortly before 20:30 on Sunday, the SCT recorded the heaviest congestion on the AP-7 southbound section, the C-16 and the N-260.
- On the AP-7, queues reached 5.5 kilometres between l'Ametlla de Mar and l'Ampolla, and five kilometres between El Vendrell and Roda de Berà, both northbound.
- Also on the AP-7, there were nine kilometres of congestion between Castellet and Banyeres del Penedès, plus seven kilometres of queues at Vilafranca del Penedès, northbound.
- On the N-260, traffic backed up for nine kilometres between Ribes de Freser and Ripoll, southbound.
At 21:00 on Sunday, the SCT said the return operation was entering its final stage and that its special incident-response arrangements remained in place. It advised drivers making return journeys from coastal and tourist areas to continue taking care.
Primary sources: rodalies.gencat.cat. Reported by elperiodico.com, www.camarastrafico.com.es, diariomarbella.com, Vilapress, Metrópoli, El Periódico Barcelona.
