Via Augusta

Via Augusta (also known as Via Herculea or Via Exterior) was a Roman road crossing all the Hispania Province, from Cádiz in the southern tip of current Spain, to the Coll de Panissars, where it crossed the Pyrenees close to the Mediterranean Sea, and joined the Via Domitia. The road stretched around 1,500 km (around 1,000 miles), passing through the cities of Gades (Cádiz), Carthago Nova (Cartagena), Valentia (Valencia), Saguntum (Sagunto), Tarraco (Tarragona), Barcino (Barcelona), and Gerunda (Girona). It had branches passing through Hispalis (Seville) (where it joined the Via Lusitanorum), Córdoba, and Emerita Augusta (Mérida). The road was named after Emperor Augustus, who ordered it renovated between 8 BC and 2 BC. It was mainly a commercial road. Its path is currently followed by the N-340 road and the A-7 highway. North of Tarragona there remains a Roman Triumphal arch, the Arc de Berà, around which the road divides. At Martorell, the ancient Via crosses the river Llobregat on the impressive "Devil's bridge" which dates from the High Middle Ages in its current form.