The M-30 orbital motorway circles the central districts of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, the capital city of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is the innermost ring road of the Spanish city, with a length of 32.5 km. Outer rings are named M-40, M-45 and M-50. Its length and the surface surrounded by the M-30 is comparable to the Boulevard Périphérique of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, the Grande Raccordo Anulare of

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or the

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Inner Ring Road. It has, at least, three lanes in each direction, supplemented in some parts by two or three lane auxiliary roads. It connects to the main Spanish radial national roads that start in Madrid. The M30 is the busiest Spanish road, famous for its traffic jams, and surrounded by several landmarks such as Torrespaña (one of the tallest structures in Madrid) and the national headquarters of

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

. The highway used to pass under the now-demolished Vicente Calderón Stadium.

History

Its construction started in the 1960s and required the underground canalisation of the Abroñigal river, required to avoid flooding since the road runs through the lowest part of the city. In the 1970s the eastern section (Avenida de la Paz) was open between the junction of Manoteras (cross with the A-1, M-11 and accesses to Sanchinarro) and the Nudo Sur (South Junction), that connects to the Avenida de Andalucía (previously N-IV) and A-4. The second and western section, the Avenida del Manzanares, follows the course of the Manzanares river from the northwestern Puerta de Hierro junction to the junction with the eastern section. In the 1990s, the ring road was completed with the construction of the northern section, called Avenida de la Ilustración (the only section of the road with traffic lights) from the junction of Puerta de Hierro (accession to Cardenal Herrera Oria street, M40, and El Pardo road) to the junction of Manoteras with the A-1. In 2003, the highway was transferred from the

Government of Spain The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the ...

to the

City Council of Madrid The City Council of Madrid () is the top-tier administrative and governing body of Madrid, the capital and biggest city of Spain. The city council is composed by three bodies: the mayor, who leads the city council and the executive branch of it; ...

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Alberto Ruiz Gallardón implemented a plan called "Calle 30" (''Street 30''), converting sections of the highway in the Manzanares course into tunnels, and building an

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

(

Madrid Río Madrid Río is an urban park in the Spanish capital Madrid, built along an urban stretch of the Manzanares River following the burial of the M-30 bypass road in this area. It is the result of a project led by the architect Ginés Garrido, who ...

) in the surface previously occupied by asphalt. From 2005 to 2008, major upgrading works took place, and now a significant portion of the southern part runs underground. They are the longest urban motorway tunnels in Europe, with sections of more than 6 km in length and 3 to 6 lanes in each direction, between the south entry of the Avenida de Portugal tunnel and the north exit of the M-30 south by-pass there are close to 10 km of continuous tunnels. The M30 tunnels run between a point roughly 700 meters north of the junction with A5 motorway and continue all the way up to the junction between M30 and A3 motorway. The total cost of the works was over 7 billion

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

Urban, economic, environmental and cultural significance

The M-30 surrounds the inner core (the central districts) of Madrid:

Centro Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...

Arganzuela Arganzuela is one of the 21 districts of the city of Madrid, Spain. Geography Position Arganzuela is located in central-southern Madrid, separated from Latina, Carabanchel and Usera by the river Manzanares. The other bordering districts are ...

, Retiro,

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, Chamartín, Tetuán, and

Chamberí Chamberí is a district of Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population ...

, as well as a small part of

Moncloa-Aravaca Moncloa-Aravaca is a Districts of Madrid, district of the municipality of Madrid, Spain. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, spanning across both banks of the Manzanares River, Manzanares. It is made up of the neighborhoods of Arav ...

. This core is home to one quarter of the population of Madrid (about 800,000 people) and is, in average, wealthier than the rest of the city. Also, housing prices are higher inside the M-30. Popularly, the city Madrid is divided in ''dentro de la M-30'' (inside the M-30) and ''fuera de la M-30'' (outside the M-30). The M-30 itself is touted by Madrileños and media as a ''barrier'' between the rich and the poor sections of the city. Pay-per-use parking lots and

parking meter A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to Parking, park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by Municipality, municipalities as a tool for enforcing their i ...

s in Madrid (usually called ORA in Spain, but SER in Madrid) only exist in the area within the M-30. Access by car to the inner core and the M-30 itself may be restricted in days of high air pollution.

Multimedia Gallery

File:Hospital RyC--15.jpg, M-30 North File:M-30.jpg, M-30 East File:M 30 tunel.jpg, Underground stretch of the M-30 File:Vicente-Calderon-030612-1.jpg, M30 passing under the north side of the Vicente Calderón Stadium (now demolished) File:Madrid in May 2017 64 v1.jpg,

park. Until 2007, this space was occupied by the M-30; now the road traverses a tunnel below the park.

Exit list

The M-30 has the following exits:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:M-30 Transport in Madrid Transport in the Community of Madrid Ring roads in Spain