Fatal Truck Crash Closes AP-7 Toward Barcelona for at Least 10 Hours
A fatal truck crash at Mont-roig del Camp closed the AP-7 toward Barcelona for at least ten hours. Detours, a second crash near Santa Margarida and alternatives.
One person died on Saturday when two trucks collided on the AP-7 motorway at Mont-roig del Camp, in Tarragona province, and the road toward Barcelona will stay closed there for at least ten hours, according to La Vanguardia. Three crashes involving four trucks hit the northbound side of the motorway on the same day.
The Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT, Catalonia’s traffic authority) has set up a detour for drivers heading north while crews remove the vehicles and their cargo.
What it means for drivers heading to Barcelona
Anyone driving north on the AP-7 from the south of Catalonia faces a full closure at Mont-roig del Camp. Ramon Lamiel, director of the SCT, told the radio station RAC1 that the motorway cannot reopen for at least about ten hours, because clearing the trucks and their loads is a complex job.
Trànsit is sending traffic off the motorway at exit 281, between Vandellòs and l’Hospitalet de l’Infant. Drivers can follow the alternative route from there and rejoin the AP-7 further on.
Closer to Barcelona, in Barcelona province, traffic is also slow. A truck and a van crashed at Santa Margarida i els Monjos, again in the northbound direction, and only one lane is open there. For that stretch, Trànsit recommends the C-32 and the N-340 as alternative roads.
Two crashes a kilometer apart at Mont-roig
The closure at Mont-roig del Camp follows two separate crashes roughly one kilometer apart, La Vanguardia reported. First, a truck loaded with lettuces overturned. Near kilometer 274, two heavy trucks collided when one hit the other from behind, and that rear-end crash killed one person.
The victim’s identity was not disclosed. No details were given about injuries in the other crashes.
Both crashes happened on the same northbound stretch, so traffic toward Barcelona cannot pass Mont-roig del Camp while the wreckage is in place. Lamiel gave the removal of both the vehicles and the cargo as the reason for the long closure, and one of the trucks had spilled its load of lettuces.
The third crash, at Santa Margarida i els Monjos
Santa Margarida i els Monjos lies in Barcelona province, outside the Tarragona area where the other two crashes happened, so drivers who get past the Mont-roig detour can still hit delays closer to the city.
The collision between a truck and a van at Santa Margarida i els Monjos was the third on Saturday along the same northbound route. That stretch is partly closed, with traffic squeezed into a single lane.
Together, the three crashes are causing major disruption for drivers traveling toward Barcelona on Saturday, according to La Vanguardia. Trànsit’s ten-hour estimate for the Mont-roig closure is a minimum, and the reopening depends on how fast the trucks and the spilled cargo can be cleared.
Source: La Vanguardia
