The three tunnels project

The Barcelona Traffic Plan of 1962 provided for the building a 300-metre tunnel to pass underneath the neighbourhood of El Carmel. The project gathered momentum at the end of the 1960s, when the City Council approved a project to build three tunnels that would cross the Collserola range: the tunnels of Vallvidrera, Tibidabo and Horta. The La Rovira tunnel was planned as a connection between Horta and the city centre,.

Opened in 1987

Work began in 1970, and the tunnel was built under the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), using the minimum necessary support. It tunnelling was completed by 8 July 1975, but the work has halted in February of the following year after the project was abandoned. The decks were closed for over 10 years, until the road was opened on 20 May 1987. The Ronda del Mig and Ronda de Dalt ring roads were finally connected a year later.