Catalan government launches road improvement plan for Pyrenees

The Catalan Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition has launched a plan to improve access to population centers in mountain regions and the Aran Valley. The initiative aims to organize the management of the extensive network of municipal roads, which often places a heavy maintenance and emergency response burden on small town councils with limited resources.

Silvia Paneque, the regional minister, stated that the measure seeks to “ensure the right to mobility for residents of the Pyrenees, a basic necessity that contributes to rooting the population and avoiding depopulation.”

The plan will be implemented in several phases, beginning with the mapping of all public roads between inhabited centers in collaboration with the Catalan Cartographic and Geological Institute (ICGC). This includes identifying sections at high risk of geological phenomena, such as landslides. By the end of 2026, the plan intends to include a rapid action protocol for emergencies, with full coordination mechanisms expected to be deployed by 2030.