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With the DGT estimating that more than 100 million road trips will be made across Spain this summer, the debate over charging for the maintenance of the national road network is rearing its head again. Just this week Seopan, the association that represents companies involved in building the roads, has proposed charging tolls of 3 cents per kilometre on every highway and byway in the country.

 

They claim that this measure would raise more than €5.7 billion each year, which could help alleviate the accumulated investment gap of €11.494 billion affecting network maintenance. It is one of the measures included in their report ‘Alternatives for Charging for the Use of High-Capacity Roads on the Spanish Highway Network.’

 

They explain that this pay-per-use model would allow the financial burden of road network renovations to be offset by taxpayers as a whole.

 

Specifically, Seopan is proposing a toll of 3 cents on average for passenger cars and 14 cents for trucks and estimates that these expenditures would generate savings of €41.038 billion for the public sector and that the tax return would amount to €35.314 billion.

 

The great toll debate is certainly nothing new. Back in 2023, the European Commission imposed an obligation on Spain to have tolls on all its dual carriageways by 2024, but this obviously never happened.

 

Again at the end of last year, Brussels said that the government would have to implement some kind of toll or pay-per-use system on high capacity roads in 2025, but the Ministry of Transport still hasn’t made any move to implement the scheme.

 

Seopan has pointed out that a 3 cent charge per kilometre is a fair price, as it would still be well below the EU average, which currently sits at 9 cents per kilometre for light vehicles and 18 cents for heavy vehicles. The association has also suggested discounts for frequent road users and those on low incomes.

 

Currently, the maintenance of Spain's road network is funded almost exclusively through the public budget, which, according to Seopan, diverts resources from other areas such as pensions, healthcare and education.

 

The report highlights the fact that Spain accounts for 68% of the kilometres of toll-free highways in the entire European Union and the inequality this entails: motorists from Spain pay to drive in other countries, but foreigners use the national road network without contributing to its maintenance.

 

 

Image: Werner Wilmes via Wikimedia Commons