- The meeting for the coordination of the Protocol has been chaired by the Government's sub-delegate
- The area of the Community of Madrid did not register snowfall incidents in the State Road Network during the last winter season
Reducing to a minimum the number of sections with traffic restrictions or retention in case of heavy snowfall is the main objective of the Protocol for the Coordination of Proceedings against Snowfall on the Roads of the State of the Community of Madrid in the 2025/2026 campaign that has been revised today at the meeting held at the headquarters of the Government Delegation.
Under the chairmanship of the Spanish Government’s Deputy Delegate to the Community of Madrid, Pilar Trinidad, the Head of the Civil Protection Unit, Fabián Bejarano, attended by representatives of the different competent bodies: the State Road Demarcation in Madrid; the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies; the Zone Headquarters and the Civil Guard Command in Madrid; the Provincial Traffic Headquarters; the Military Emergency Unit; the Community of Madrid through the City Weather Agency.
To achieve the objectives of this Plan, which aims ensuring winter traffic on the State Road Network in the region during snowfall and other adverse weather events, coordination and agility in the response of all administrations is essential.
Therefore, and in line with the current State plan, it seeks to strengthen the systems of coordination between the services, means and resources of the General Administration of the State, the Community of Madrid and the City of Madrid.
The device for the new 2025-2026 campaign starts in November and will be in force until April 2026 (depending on the weather).
Main data from the last campaign
The meeting also took stock of the last winter campaign 2024-2025, which the Government’s deputy delegate described as “very good”, without any snow incidents on the roads of the State of the Community of Madrid being recorded during its term.
The Protocol for the Coordination of Actions on State Roads in the Community of Madrid was not activated in any of its possible situations. This is because the five episodes of winter weather in the Community of Madrid were all located in the Sierra area.
The snowfall on the roads did not cause significant problems, since they were limited exclusively to the areas of the Sierra, where the snow is a frequent meteor, while in the surroundings of Madrid and its metropolitan crown there were no incidents of any kind by the snow.
The most notable weather situations related to winter weather were the succession of flushes in March.
Every month, from November to April (both included), they had the particularity, in terms of temperature, of being warm in relation to the reference period, except the month of March that was very cold. Regarding rainfall, it should be noted that they were scarce at the beginning of the campaign and abundant towards the end of it.
Incidents on the roads
In the Government Delegation, several communications were received, from the Civil Guard Command on State roads in the Community of Madrid, referring to restrictions on the movement of articulated vehicles such as trucks and buses, and on eight occasions the mandatory use of chains for passenger cars was determined in the N-VI, Alto del León. In some cases they were due to snow problems in the province of Segovia.
On the part of the Abertis concessionaire, with respect to the AP-6 area, 125 notifications were received in the network managed by the same, which can be grouped into six periods, all making references to the stretches of motorway of other provinces (Ávila and Segovia), with no significant condition in the stretches of Madrid.
Potentially Conflicting Points on the State Road Network
The protocol of actions foresees as potentially conflicting points the levels higher than 1,000 meters, which are: the port of Somosierra on the A-1 (with 1,444 meters of altitude, from kilometer 84 to 96), and the port of Guadarrama-Alto del León on the National VI (with 1,511 meters of altitude, from kilometer 52 to 57). Other conflicting sections are those between kilometre 57 and the border with the province of Segovia on the A-1 motorway, and between kilometre 42 and the border with the same province on the A-6.
Access to Madrid
Another of the priorities of the Government Delegation, given the strategic importance of the city of Madrid, is to guarantee the viability of the accesses to the capital. Special attention will be paid to the tracks that can be described as “critical”, such as the ring roads, the entry/exit radials to Madrid and the accesses to Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas airport, railway stations and other transport infrastructures.
Operational procedures
The Plan establishes the operational procedures to be carried out according to the three possible phases that may occur: Alert, Pre-Emergency and Emergency. At each stage, the reasons for their declaration, who should intervene and what resources should be put in place are specified.
The declaration of the three phases is related to the risk levels that can be issued by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), through the National Plan for Prediction and Monitoring of Adverse Meteorology (METEOALERT), which provides in real time the best and most up-to-date meteorological information possible with an advance of up to 72 hours. These risk levels are:
- YELLOW, When there is no meteorological risk for the population in general, although it is for some specific activity.
- ORANGE, When the weather risk is important. Vulnerable people and property or in exposed areas can be severely damaged.
- RED, when the risk is considered extreme. Vulnerable people and property or in exposed areas can suffer very serious or catastrophic damage.
Phases of the Snowfall Plan
According to the weather forecasts, the Plan provides for the declaration of three phases:
- La WARNING PHASE which will begin with the issuance by the National Prediction Center of AEMET of a bulletin of notice of snowfall of red or orange levels relative to a certain territorial area, or a bulletin of yellow situation for snowfall in the Metropolitan Area-Henares of Madrid. It will mean the immediate implementation of the Operational Coordination Centre of the Government Delegation.
- La PRE-EMERGENCY PHASE It will occur when snow begins and the Nevada forecast is strong and decisions must be made on the advisability of deploying snow removal and salt spreading machines on the roadway for snow removal, as well as decisions to cut off truck and bus traffic.
In addition, in this same phase, restrictions will be established on the normal conditions of movement, which may involve the obligatory use of chains to transit the road network, as well as the implementation of controls by the Civil Traffic Guard. In this case, operational prevention procedures will be established, such as the mobilisation of cranes to remove immobilised vehicles that hinder the actions or the mobilisation of snowploughing machines to clear the tracks.
- La EMERGENCY PHASE It will be reached from the moment that the snow on the road, the ice or any other circumstance (such as crossed vehicles) causes the cut of the road and it is necessary to pay attention to people who may have been blocked and it is impossible to follow the trip by their own means.
In this case, in addition to the actions foreseen in the two previous phases, the means of the General Administration of the State that can contribute to adequate care for the occupants of vehicles that have been blocked will be made available to the competent body in the field of Civil Protection of the Community of Madrid.