Fomento wants to move trucks off national roads and force them onto toll motorways

In recent days there has been considerable debate among all users of Spanish roads following a plan that the Ministry of Development is considering and which would affect heavy traffic. The plan aims to ensure that, wherever possible, lorries travel on toll motorways and leave national roads, which would be freed from a good part of the traffic that uses them every day.

This plan could come into force in the second half of 2015 and would affect 16 stretches of single-lane national roads in each direction for which there is a toll motorway alternative. If the plan goes ahead, drivers of heavy vehicles would be legally obliged to use toll roads across more than 1,300 kilometres that they can currently travel on the national road. What do you think of the plan? We explain its details a little further because opinions are very divided.

The plan has both supporters and detractors, but it has not gone down well among the transport companies, which would see their costs rise. The Ministry of Development (not the company operating the toll road) would subsidise them with 50% of the toll cost they had to pay on these compulsory stretches, and it also considers a 35% subsidy if they continue on the toll road and do not return to the national road even after the restricted stretch ends. Haulage associations believe the measure does not favour them and that it is designed to help the operators of toll motorways, which we have already mentioned on other occasions are in a ruinous situation.

The Ministry of Development would introduce the plan on the premise that road accidents and also their severity would be reduced, which is logically higher when a lorry is involved. Users of national roads would benefit from less dense traffic, and there would be fewer dangerous situations such as the reckless overtaking of lorries that some drivers carry out out of impatience. It is true that this traffic density would shift to toll roads, but some are so deserted that the effect would be much less noticeable, and overtaking is also easier there thanks to multiple lanes. This type of measure already applies, for example, in Girona, where heavy vehicles use the AP-7.

What do you think? Do you believe the Ministry of Development and the haulage associations will reach an agreement to implement it? Let’s discuss it with you in the comments section.