It is not for today or tomorrow but for within "15 or 20 years," in the words of the metropolitan president and mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias. But everything has a beginning, and it was the day of placing the project officially launched yesterday. It is about transforming the side of the highway B-23 from the inlet to Barcelona to the Llobregat River in Sant Joan Despi, or vice versa depending on how you look like in a metropolitan civic ride by road for pedestrians, bicycles and public transport service. And also with a bus lane in a central road that will not be touched and maintain its three lanes in each direction, although in some stretches you think nothing less than cover such as Gran Via in L'Hospitalet. Thus, Barcelona, Esplugues, Sant Just Desvern and Sant Joan Despi dream that 10.5 kilometers from the Diagonal reach the Llobregat river five miles of avenue.
The four mayors (Trias, Pilar Díaz, Josep Antoni Poveda and Perpignan respectively) hand in Sant Joan Despi occurred yesterday in an act of metropolitan statement at the gates of elections that can change things, to order the draft of this work. From earlier work by studying the architects Enric Batlle and Joan Roig, the public agency will now Barcelona Regional Planning which start drafting the blueprint of future civic axis of the B-23.
There are still no estimates of the cost but Antoni Poveda spoke of "hundreds of millions". The involvement of institutions such as the Generalitat and the State, owner of the highway, "with which has already been discussed," according to vice president said the Metropolitan Transportation should contribute to a development plan which in any case would be phased and long term.
It is obvious that the complexity of this transformation is very high for the length of the track and its diversity. But Trias compared it to that of the Glories, coverage of the train at Sants or La Sagrera and concluded that "although it has a high cost and long implementation should begin to change things in the future."
A project sponsored by the metropolitan area as a supra-institution of the great Barcelona has to break the barrier that now involves the B-23 for municipalities that crosses. This will be possible at points where the height difference can be covered highway. This would be the case, for example, Sant Joan Despi up to TV-3. The coatings also allow the long open new public spaces and even urban areas or economic exploitation. In this aspect is referenced park Solidaritat Esplugues on the Ronda de Dalt since 1998 is a valuable point of the metropolitan green network.
A critical enclave of the new Avenue B-23 because of its complexity and its cost is the overpass Ronda de Dalt in Pedralbes. The Barcelona Diagonal loses to the concrete wall character of urban space. The plan calls back to the Diagonal there full perspective and human connectivity to the Baix Llobregat, the same level as Cervantes Park, with the burial of the round. The disappearance of the obstacle would open the big door.