Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

Bicivia, the metropolitan bike path network, will progress further towards completion thanks to a new subsidy from the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) worth 2.1 million euros.

This financing will be used to build six new strategic stretches in the Bicivia between 2020 and 2023.

This project is part of the ERDF Agreement that the Government of Catalonia and the AMB signed in 2017 to manage metropolitan projects within the ERDF Catalonia Investment in Growth and Jobs Operating Programme 2014-2020 in matters such as smart cities, sustainable mobility, energy efficiency and the recovery and promotion of the natural, industrial and cultural heritage. This agreement will allow the AMB to invest a total of 72 million euros, 30 of which is being co-financed by the ERDF.

The AMB has set up an information portal which outlines all the projects related to the ERDF funds:

ERDF AMB 2014-2020

The six new stretches of bike path will be key connections among different metropolitan municipalities while also facilitating the connectivity between the city of Barcelona and the Besòs and Llobregat areas. More generally, they will improve the bicycle connectivity in the metropolitan area of Barcelona by overcoming territorial barriers like rivers, roadway infrastructures and railways.

The six new actions in the bike path network are the following: 

• Sant Mateu d'Esplugues and Diagonal: This is the second stretch, which will complete Barcelona's connection along the upper part of Diagonal with Esplugues de Llobregat. This stretch will connect the Baix Llobregat and Diagonal behind sports complexes of the UB and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.
• Old road and Els Passadors bridge (Barcelona-Sant Adrià de Besòs): This project is essential to connecting Barcelona's Carrer Guipúscoa with Carrer Pi i Maragall in Sant Adrià de Besòs, and to continue it in Badalona along Carrer Alfons XIII, which will become one of the ways out to the northern part of El Barcelonès and El Maresme regions. This new point will help overcome two territorial barriers: the Ronda Litoral (coastal ring road) and the Besòs River.
• Rambla Fondo in Santa Coloma de Gramenet: This stretch will provide another connection between Barcelona and Badalona and the northern part of El Barcelonès region. It is a small project which will complete the artery running along Barcelona's Passeig de Santa Coloma and Avinguda de Sant Llorenç, Rambla de Sant Sebastià and Rambla Fondo in Santa Coloma de Gramenet.
• UAB to Badia del Vallès: This project will provide access to the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) on its northern side, crossing the natural barriers of a forest with a gradient of more than 40 metres, the Sec River and the C-58 motorway. It will allow the UAB to be connected to the railway station in Barberà del Vallès and with the entire region.
• Carrer Àngel Guimerà, between Esplugues de Llobregat and Sant Joan Despí: This new stretch will facilitate internal connections between these two adjacent towns.
• Rubí motorway and AP-7: This stretch will connect the Carretera de Rubí with Avinguda Lluís Companys in Sant Cugat del Vallès.

Priority projects for the Bicivia

These seven strategic stretches are on the list of 28 priority bike lane projects approved by the Metropolitan Council held on 30 October 2018 and agreed upon via a participative process with the metropolitan town councils. From 24 July until late September 2018, the municipalities were able to give their input on interest in the priority bike lane connections and to specify the co-financing they were willing to contribute.

These 28 projects, whose cost totals €31,780,705 (VAT included), are part of the strategic document that defines the projects that have to be undertaken within the Metropolitan Bicivia Development Programme (PMB).

The AMB wishes to stress that Bicivia is a network that will connect the entire metropolitan area of Barcelona with a powerful network of bike lanes that will total more than 500 km long. The Bicivia is divided into a basic network and a secondary network. The basic network is made up of the arteries that join the population nuclei with more than 20,000 inhabitants and the economic activity estates with more than 4,000 workers, while the secondary network is made up of the bike lanes that connect the remaining population nuclei.

The main arteries in the basic network are nine major bike paths: four of them vertical, crossing the metropolitan area from north to south following the courses of the Llobregat and Besòs Rivers, and five of them horizontal, four on the coastal side and one in the Vallès region.