A large crane marks the start of two weeks of night closures on the Ronda de Dalt to install 56 pre-slabs for the future tunnel roof in Horta-Guinardó. The disruptions will occur from Monday to Thursday, between exits 5 and 6, until August 6.
The Barcelona City Council began work early this morning to install the roof of the second covered section of the Ronda de Dalt, a project that will require traffic to be cut in both directions during the nights of the upcoming weekdays. The intervention, which will last until August 6, affects the section between exits 5 and 6 in the Horta-Guinardó district, where a large crane has already started installing the 56 pre-slabs that will form the tunnel's cover.
The pieces, measuring 12.3 meters long by 2.4 meters wide, are placed on the central wall that was built two years ago. According to the Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Laia Bonet, during a night visit to the works, the plan is to complete the installation in eight working days, always from Monday to Thursday, to avoid disruptions on weekends. Thus, the closures will be concentrated exclusively on weekday early mornings, freeing up traffic on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.
Once the pre-slabs are installed, the next step will be the installation of tunnel systems, such as fans, lighting, and signage panels. These tasks will be carried out between August 3 and 24, during which the slow lane in each direction of the Ronda de Dalt will be closed. The municipal government led by Jaume Collboni argues that this reduction of one lane for three weeks will help minimise future night closures.
The covering works for this second section, which is 340 meters long, began in June 2024 and continue from a first phase that already covered 200 linear meters between the institute and the Vall d'Hebron market. The overall project will generate more than 16,000 square meters of new public space and green areas, which will particularly benefit residents of the Sant Genís dels Agudells and La Teixonera neighbourhoods.
The municipal investment for the structure of the cover amounts to 12 million euros, a figure that rises to 20 million when including the cost of the tunnel, installations, and finishes. The council is finalising the project for the exterior urbanisation, which will include trees and flower beds, although the budget for this final phase has not yet been finalised.
During the next two weeks, the presence of the large crane will also affect the sea side of the Vall d'Hebron promenade. Traffic will be diverted to the other side of the Ronda, so that the mountain side will be enabled for both directions of traffic.
The placement of the remaining 45 pre-slabs and the corresponding night closures will be postponed until next year, with no specific date yet. Municipal sources explain that the two phases with impact are not being combined into one to allow for testing of the initial installations and to install all the pieces that will hang from the roof at once. The forecast is that the tunnel work will continue until the end of 2027 and that the surface urbanisation will require another year.
This action is part of the plan to cover the Ronda de Dalt, a long-standing demand from local residents, who have seen how the fast road has divided the neighbourhood for decades. With the completion of this second section, further progress will be made towards stitching together the urban fabric and reclaiming space for pedestrians.
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