Live cameras in Ciudad Lineal, Spain

Ciudad Lineal, in the northeast of Madrid, takes its name from an idea. In the late nineteenth century the planner Arturo Soria y Mata proposed a “linear city,” a strip about 400 meters wide built along a tramway and a main road, and the street that carries his name still runs through the district. The tram line has long since closed, but the plan left behind leafy avenues and a mix of older houses and apartment blocks. Nine wards make up the district, from Ventas, home of the Las Ventas bullring, to Concepción, Quintana, Pueblo Nuevo and Costillares. About 228,000 people live in its roughly 11 square kilometers, according to recent figures.

The page shows about 60 traffic cameras of its own. They belong to the Madrid road picture as a whole, drawn from the DGT, Spain’s national traffic authority, and from the city of Madrid’s traffic system. In this part of town they show busy junctions, approaches to the M-30 ring on the district’s western side and the main arteries that carry commuters toward the center. The pictures are refreshed at intervals rather than streamed, so a frame may be a little behind real time.

Local time is Central European Time, with daylight saving from late March to late October. Morning traffic into the center builds early on weekdays, and late afternoon brings the return trip. Madrid’s inland climate means bright, dry summers with very hot afternoons and crisp, clear winter mornings, when low sun can light the roads beautifully just after sunrise. The district quiets down in August, when many residents leave for vacation.

Next door, across the M-30, lies Chamartín with the Bernabéu stadium, and to the south the Salamanca district leads into central Madrid. Further out, the radius includes cameras on the airport approaches and on the motorways heading east toward Guadalajara.

Sources: Ciudad Lineal – Wikipedia · Autopista de Circunvalación M-30 – Wikipedia.