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Viladecans to open a new cycle and pedestrian route alongside the C-31
Cycling or walking to the beach from Viladecans will be much easier in the coming years. The Generalitat has launched a project to build a new route exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists alongside the C-31, an initiative aimed at changing how people travel between the town centre and the coast of Baix Llobregat.
The works, valued at 852,000 euros, will begin this autumn and will last approximately six months. The new route will connect the Filipines beach junction with access to Arrayán beach, following the seaward side of the C-31 road and creating a safer, more comfortable route for people travelling without a car.
The action forms part of the strategy of the Departament de Territori, Habitatge i Transició Ecològica to promote less polluting mobility alternatives in the metropolitan area. Minister Sílvia Paneque has defended the project as a way of making everyday and leisure journeys easier while reducing emissions and dependence on road traffic.
The new cycling and pedestrian corridor will not stop there. The Generalitat is already working on a second phase that will extend the route as far as Gavà, passing through the area near the campsite and linking up with Avenida Europa. When the project is complete, it will be possible to travel between different points along the metropolitan coast with much greater continuity and safety.
The route will run between kilometres 186.4 and 187.2 of the C-31 and will be divided into several sections to ensure connections with existing paths and access points. The aim is to integrate the new infrastructure with the routes currently used by residents, sportspeople and people going to the beach during the fine-weather months.
The transformation also responds to an increasingly visible change in the metropolitan area: the increase in bicycle journeys and demand for more pleasant routes away from heavy traffic. In municipalities such as Viladecans or Gavà, where the distance between the town and the coast is relatively short, connections of this kind are gaining importance for both everyday life and weekend leisure.
The C-31 is one of the major road corridors on Barcelona’s southern coast and carries constant inbound and outbound traffic towards the capital. For years, getting about on foot or by bicycle alongside this road has been uncomfortable or unsafe on many stretches. The new infrastructure seeks precisely to reclaim space for calmer mobility connected with the natural surroundings of the Llobregat delta.