News
Queues of up to three kilometres on the approach to Madrid this Sunday
The return to Madrid became complicated during the afternoon of Sunday 23 August on two of the main roads into the capital. Separate accidents on the A-4 near Aranjuez and on the A-1 near Sieteiglesias caused queues at the usual weekend return times.
The most significant incident occurred on the A-4, around kilometre 51. The accident forced the temporary closure of the left lane towards Madrid and generated around three kilometres of traffic queues.
The second complication was located on the A-1, at kilometre 73, in the Sieteiglesias area. There, another accident left approximately two kilometres of slow-moving traffic for drivers heading towards the capital from the north of the region.
The Dirección General de Tráfico reported that both incidents were still active at around 16:45. For those returning from Aranjuez, the Sierra Norte or a trip outside Madrid, the accidents added time to a Sunday on which the approaches to the city concentrate a large share of road journeys.
The situation, however, improved quickly. Before six in the evening, traffic had returned to normal at both points and the queues directly caused by these two accidents were no longer continuing.
The A-4 is one of the main roads used to return to Madrid from the south, while the A-1 absorbs a large share of journeys from the Sierra Norte and provinces such as Segovia and Burgos. Any incident on these roads can quickly extend queues when it coincides with the return on a summer Sunday.
The afternoon therefore leaves two isolated black spots, but without prolonging the complications into the night. The queues at Aranjuez and Sieteiglesias have disappeared and the approaches have recovered their usual traffic flow after a Sunday return that was somewhat slower than expected.