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The M-30 orbital motorway circles the central districts of Madrid, the capital city of Spain. It is the innermost ring road of the Spanish city, and the length is 32,5 km. Outer rings are named M-40, M-45 and M-50.
Map of M-30, Madrid, Spain
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), the national headquarters of IBM, and passes under the Vicente Calderón Stadium.
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 most important section 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 Andalucia (previously N-IV) and A-4.
In the 1990s, the ring road was completed with the construction of the section between Avenida de la Ilustración (the only section of the road with traffic lights) and the junction of Puerta de Hierro (accession to Cardenal Herrera Oria street, M40, and El Pardo road).
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.