Accident causes bumper-to-bumper traffic on AP-7 as hundreds of thousands leave Barcelona

An accident on the AP-7 highway has led to around 15 km of bumper-to-bumper on the AP-7 highway between the towns of Subirats and Castellbisbal, not far from Barcelona.

The incident, which took place on Friday evening as hundreds of thousands of vehicles were leaving the Barcelona area ahead of the summer vacation high period, involved six cars.

According to the Catalan Traffic Service, a lane has been closed due to the accident.

In and around Barcelona, the B-10 in the Llobregat area, the B-20 in the Trinitat area, and the C-17 between Parets del Vallès and Mollet del Vallès are also experiencing heavy traffic.

109,279 vehicles left the Barcelona area between 3 pm and 6:30 pm – just over 22% of the 490,000 that are expected to leave by the end of the day.

Busier than usual El Prat

The Barcelona El Prat airport was busier than usual this Friday, with just under 1,000 flights departing. 

"There are a lot of people here," Laura and Marc, who were on their way to the Balearic Islands, to the Catalan News Agency (ACN). 

Average wait times to get through security were between 5 and 7 minutes depending on the time of day. 

When asked, many passengers, such as Paula, who was traveling to Cadiz in southern Spain, said they noticed ticket prices had gone up. 

"It's been crazy," she said. "We booked our flights a while ago and prices have gone up a ton. In fact, we didn't go elsewhere because prices were already really high."

According to Vueling, Mallorca, Ibiza, and Maó are the most popular destinations, especially among younger travelers, while places like the Canary Islands or Andalusia are also a hit.