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Badalona will repair the road at Barca Maria beach after Storm Harry
Badalona is beginning urgent work at one of the points hardest hit by Storm Harry. The service road at Barca Maria beach, severely damaged by January's waves, will be repaired to restore access to the area and reinforce protection for the R1 line, which runs very close to the sea.
The intervention affects 219 metres of roadway and has a budget of close to 350,000 euros. The Departament de Territori, Habitatge i Transició Ecològica has launched the tender for the works, with bids to be submitted by 6 July.
The aim is to act before the autumn storms arrive. Once the works have been awarded, they are expected to last around three months. The urgency responds to the state in which the area was left after a storm damaged the promenade, affected underground installations and left the railway surroundings more exposed.
The roadway is not merely a path next to the beach. It also acts as a protective element between the sea and the railway infrastructure. On such a sensitive stretch of coastline, any loss of stability could end up affecting access, urban services and the safety of the R1.
The project envisages rebuilding the surface with a 30-centimetre crushed-stone base and 20-centimetre reinforced-concrete paving. A concrete wall will also be built on the seafront and a breakwater installed to reduce the force of the waves in future storm episodes.
The works will include replacing the lighting, water ducts and two conduits for other services. The Llevant wastewater collector will also be protected; it had to be repaired by the Área Metropolitana de Barcelona after breaking during the storm.
ADIF, for its part, has built a dyke on the northern section to protect the railway line and the roadway itself. That prior intervention allows the repair of the path to proceed more safely and without waiting for the sea to strike an already weakened area again.
Storm Harry left a deep mark on Badalona. The mayor went so far as to describe it as the worst recorded in the city's history, with severe damage to the seafront promenade and the coastal connection towards the Maresme interrupted for days.
The intervention at Barca Maria once again shows the fragility of the metropolitan coast. Badalona had already suffered the impact of Storm Gloria in 2020, when the Pont del Petroli was split in two. Now, repairing the roadway seeks more than fixing a damaged section: it seeks to gain time and safety on a coastline increasingly exposed to harsher storms.