The Olot and Les Preses variants will be operational in 2031, according to the forecast announced in March 2026 by the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Salvador Illa, during an event in Olot. The Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, presented the definitive project and confirmed that the work will be put out to tender this year, with priority in the budgets of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
The timeline comes after a demand that has been ongoing for decades and with an unresolved paradox in the region. The new infrastructure aims to remove traffic from the Les Preses bypass and the center of Olot, but the route directly affects the plain of La Vall d'en Bas and the Fluvià river aquifer, two of the most sensitive points along the route.
The Generalitat plans to reduce traffic in Les Preses by up to 90%
The works will begin next year with machinery on the ground. The route will be eleven kilometers long, cost 447 million euros, and will connect the roundabout of the Serra industrial estate, in La Vall d'en Bas, with the A-26 in Olot.
Currently, 18,900 vehicles pass daily through the Les Preses bypass, and between 10% and 13% are heavy vehicles. The official forecast places the traffic reduction at this point between 60% and 90%, while on Sant Jordi Avenue and in the center of Olot, the expected decrease is between 30% and 45% compared to current volumes of 15,200 and 17,800 vehicles per day.
The project reserves a significant part of the route for underground solutions. In total, 40% of the route will run through tunnels or underground, with seven interchanges, three ecoducts, a 2.7-kilometer tunnel, and another underground section of 900 meters.
Among the planned actions are a parking lot and modal interchange at the Serra roundabout, an underpass to the industrial estate, a parking lot for the Xenacs recreational area, and a new park over the Verntallat underground tunnel.
The La Pinya tunnel will concentrate a key part of the new route
One of the central points of the work will be the 2.7-kilometer La Pinya tunnel, between the northern interchange and the Olot west area. The Codella and l'Arengada viaducts will be built at its ends.
The project also eliminates the current viaducts and embankments of the old Ripoll road. Furthermore, it incorporates a new interchange with the N-260a and the Avinguda dels Reis Catòlics, along with the renovation of Avinguda Sant Jordi as one of the urban axes affected by through traffic.
In the closest environment to the neighborhoods and facilities, the action includes acoustic screens in Soler and les Feixes, the undergrounding of the section of the La Greda institute school, lanes for bicycles, and public transport stops.
Pere Macias valued the presentation of the project as a decisive step within Bracons and defended that the proposal maintains and even increases the environmental respect criteria applied in the first tunnel.
"It is very good news, because the variants are a key piece of the entire Bracons project, which at the time were not done because, among other things, their route was not sufficiently mature. After a process in which everyone has participated, the Generalitat has presented a very serious project" - Pere Macias
The demand regained strength after years of protests and neighborhood platforms
The demand for the Olot variant was assumed by the government of Jordi Pujol in 1987, although the political and road need became more established with the opening of the Vic-Olot axis in 2009. The debate about the fit of Bracons and its effects in La Garrotxa has accompanied this entire journey.
Already in 2002, a demonstration led by the then mayor Lluís Sacrest and Josep Coma, president of the Federation of Neighborhood Associations, blocked Sant Jordi avenue and Mulleras street. More recently, in 2024, the neighborhood platform No És un Vial. És un Carrer was formed to promote the project.
Miquel Macias framed the discussion about Bracons within two development models and questioned the weight that sectors such as the pig agroindustry or low-quality tourism have had in the growth of La Garrotxa.
Paneque confirmed that the tender will be activated this year and that the works will start next year with machinery on the ground, with the aim that the Olot and les Preses variants will enter service in 2031.