How many more kilometers of highway can be built? Large construction companies, like diviners attentive to any investment opportunity, have their own answer. They estimate that in Spain there is a portfolio of projects pending development to lay 912 new kilometers of roads of this type, equivalent to the distance between Barcelona and Seville.
The association of large construction companies, Seopan, has prepared a document for the Ministry of Transport in which it estimates the investments necessary for new infrastructure at almost 8,000 million euros – the exact figure is 7,926 million – at an average of 8 .6 million euros per kilometer.
These are the sections that would improve pending links between urban centers and, according to their calculations, would generate a clear economic benefit in terms of time savings. This variable is quantifiable and the Seopan study figures it at close to 9,000 million euros over the first thirty years of the life of these roads.
Of all the projects, the largest would be the highway between the Leonese city of Ponferrada and the Galician city of Ourense, 125 kilometers long, whose cost would amount to 1,249 million euros. The second largest section, of 89 kilometers, corresponds to the A68, the Ebro Highway, between Fuentes de Ebro and Valdealgorfa, in Aragón.
The plan contemplates four infrastructures with all or part of the roads in Catalonia. They total investments of 1,273 million euros, 16% of the total, with the aim of laying 126 new kilometers of connection, and have El Perelló and Mataró as major axes.
The link between the Castellón town of Traiguera, just 15 kilometers from Catalonia, and the Tarragona town of El Perelló, which has a cost of 581 million and a length of 63 kilometers, stands out. The road would continue another 14 kilometers, to Vandellós, with an additional investment of 146 million. Another project would dedicate 401 million to connect Tordera with Mataró and another 145 million to connect Mataró with Montgat.
These plans come with their own instruction manual because the construction companies want the State to commit to a concessional model. It is the best solution for both parties, they argue, since the money would be provided by the companies, without the need for public resources. In exchange, they would obtain a return over 30 years that would come through public accounts or tolls.
Seopan points out that at the end of 2026, ten highway concession contracts that are financed through the State budget and represent an annual cost of 300 million euros will expire. The roads will be amortized and the public accounts will no longer bear the cost. However, the Government must define the future conservation model for these roads and, in the process, think about how it is going to finance the infrastructure.
In its commitments with Brussels during the previous legislature, the Government included a pay-per-use model for highways, but later changed it for a plan to promote rail freight transport. For construction companies, the debate about the nearly 1.5 billion euros in costs that roads generate each year is by no means closed. From his point of view, it coincides with the opportunity to develop a new concessions plan adapted to “the new standards in terms of digitalization, electric mobility and safety.”
In the two previous legislatures, other plans for new roads were already studied. The most ambitious of them was on the table of Mariano Rajoy’s Government in 2017 and consisted of a program to lay 2,000 kilometers of highways for 5,876 million euros, with a cost per kilometer much lower than that now proposed.
The increase in material costs after the end of the pandemic and since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine largely explains the increase in project costs. Construction companies estimate that, between January 2020 and December 2023, public works are 31% more expensive due to the increase in the price of energy and materials.
The sources consulted indicate that the tender for new state roads does not have to be affected by the Government’s refusal to carry out the 2024 State budget. If only for the expense of conservation, the general direction of Highways is with Adif, Aena and Puertos del Estado are the organization that contracts the most infrastructure.
There are not as many as Seopan desires, but the work on new roads does not stop. There are currently 52 interventions of different kinds in progress in Spain, of which only one is in Barcelona. This is the B-25, consisting of the extension of the Baix Llobregat highway. In Madrid there are none. The actions are concentrated in Galicia, the Cantabrian coast, Aragon and Castilla y León.