In the 200 years between 1761, (Radial Road Plan, Spain), and the second half of the 20th century witnessed the modernization of terrestrial communications system in Catalonia. It constitutes a long enough period of time in which the new transportation infrastructures evolve according with a model characterized by an intensive road network planning and some irregular road construction rhythms, with a certain endemic delay in relation to the original plans. The contrast between these two main elements conditioned the achievement of a modern road network and established some specific relations of coexistence between the diverse transport modalities and their derived mobility. In Catalonia, the described model perfectly matches the evolution of Barcelona region, and coincides largely with the administrative division of the province as an area of performance for the road network since the second third of the 19th century. The historical sources consulted corroborate that the formation that the road-network evolution follows a cycle based on the arguments that justify the new road construction. Firstly, planning becomes a territory x-ray of economic activity that takes into account the consolidated commercial mobility. It led to the Catalan-scaled basic network as a first industrialization expression, sanctioned in the state Plan of 1860. Civil engineering body of knowledge left those strong new axes behind, leading to a new communication system to be completed, in the late 19th century, by provincial planning, focusing on the secondary road network. The identification of road-territory interaction leads to consider the fundamental role of the road network in achieving a territorial balance that results in a third cycle during the early 20th century, as a true governmental action aimed to civilize the Catalan geography. These are the “veïnal” paths that widely exceed those formulated in plans as well as the previous construction rhythms. At present, they form part of Barcelona’s local network and are considered as essential elements of its landscape heritage. Finally, the arrival of the car-based mobility on the scene resulted in a vision that incorporates new territorial scales and overcomes the railway-carriage intermodal reality. Car hegemony, since 1960s, initiates a process of local road network completion and the appearance of a highway network for the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona.