After decades paying tolls, this Thursday marks a year since four of the main Catalan roads became free to use, with the public coffers supporting their maintenance ever since. The end of tolls has been accompanied by a considerable increase in both traffic and accidents.
The anniversary is celebrated when the Government has not yet decided what alternative system to put in place to finance the maintenance of high-capacity roads. Although the Executive continues with the studies on new payment formulas, the Ministry of Transport considers that this is not the time to introduce new charges, taking into account the slowdown in the Spanish economy.
On September 1 last year, the concession of some 550 kilometers until then in the hands of Abertis subsidiaries (on the AP-2, the AP-7, the C-32 North and the C-33) ended and that in some cases They were over half a century old. Since then in Catalonia there are 130 kilometers (on the C-32 South and the C-16) where you have to continue paying tolls to circulate, roads that belong to the Generalitat, reports Efe.
The Ministry of Transport has allocated 92 million euros to the conservation and operation of the AP-2 and AP-7 in Catalonia. In the case of the C-32 North and the C-33, the Government awarded its integral conservation via an emergency contract.
