Vilafranca detour road is a famous widow maker
Variant de Vilafranca is a short stretch of the N-340 highway, located near Vilafranca del Penedès, the capital of the comarca of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia, Spain. The road is a famous widow maker: 45 people were killed in road accidents between 2000 and 2015.
The road is part of the N-340, a a major highway in Spain running for over 1,000 km between Barcelona and Cádiz. The most dangerous part of the Variant de Vilafranca is located between the kilometers 1202 and 1214, ending on the Tarragona province.
In terms of construction, the road looks pretty safe. It’s asphalted, wide and includes appropriate signage. But for some reasons, the road becomes pretty dangerous: high number of trucks, high speeds, impossible to overtake, many crossings, distractions while driving, fatigue...