Easter Monday has activated the most intense day of the Holy Week return operation on the Girona roads, with the first traffic jams registered from eleven in the morning on several main exit routes towards the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
Between noon and midnight this Monday, it is expected that 270,000 vehicles will return towards Barcelona and its surroundings. The volume of traffic has already been noticed since mid-morning, especially on the roads of the Costa Brava, the accesses from the Pyrenees, and the AP 7.
First queues on the C 31 and the C 65
One of the points with more complications is located on the C 31 between Platja d"Aro and Santa Cristina d"Aro in the direction of Vidreres, where queues accumulate in the middle of the central part of the day. The C 65 between Santa Cristina d"Aro and Llagostera also presents retentions, likewise in the direction of Vidreres.
This stretch of the C 65 concentrates a good part of the vehicles of drivers who seek to link with the AP 7 in Maçanet de la Selva, a usual point of load in return operations like that of this holiday Monday.
Complications on the AP 7 and dense traffic from the Pyrenees
On the AP 7, slowness and stops are registered between Maçanet de la Selva and Fogars de la Selva. To this affectation are added circulation problems at the height of Sant Celoni in the direction of La Roca del Vallès, in one of the key entry corridors towards the metropolitan area.
The return from the interior and the mountains also leaves traffic with retentions on the N 260, between Ripoll and Sant Joan de les Abadesses. It is a very used road by drivers returning from the Pyrenees at the close of the bridge.
More than 341,000 returns accounted for until noon
As of twelve o'clock this Monday, 341,924 returns had already been counted towards the metropolitan area of Barcelona between Sunday at noon and this Monday at noon. The forecast for the entire operation remains at 590,000 vehicles until midnight.
With this scenario, the afternoon is shaping up as the period of maximum intensity on the road network, especially in the links between the Girona regions and the AP 7, as well as in the usual return corridors from the coast and the Pyrenees.