For four years, when the contract for the maintenance and operation of a motorway ends, its barriers have been raised, liberalizing kilometers: according to data from the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, motorways used to represent 2,600 kilometers and now we are talking about 1,435 kilometers. A figure that will grow again in 2023 thanks to the C-32 motorway.
To find the next freeway that will be free we have to go to Catalonia: the liberalized section of the C-32 runs between Cubelles (Barcelona) and El Vendrell (Tarragona). Its barriers will be raised in the first quarter of 2023, although the specific date has not yet been specified. This movement will cost the Generalitat approximately two million euros per year since they have to compensate Aucat, the company (owned by Autopistas) that had the concession.
Free…on one condition
The section of the C-32, which will be free, crosses the towns of Segur de Calafell, Cunit and Cubelles and, on average, registers about 22,000 vehicles daily. The movement is carried out to turn it into a free round with which they seek to subtract traffic from the C-31: according to their forecasts, the liberalized highway could attract one in four vehicles that currently circulate on the C-31, that is to say , some 5,000 cars, motorcycles, vans, trucks…
the gratuity It will be applied every day of the year and to all types of vehicles: passenger cars, motorcycles or large-tonnage trucks. Of course, they must meet a requirement to benefit from this measure: drivers will have to have the VIA-T electronic toll system or they will have to download the Awai application (available for IOS and Android).
more discounts
On the other hand, the Generalitat has announced that in 2023 the discount on the Castelldefels-Sitges stretch will go from 40 to 50%. This reduction will maintain the conditions it has up to now: in addition to being registered in the compulsory mobility registry, it will only be available for cars, vans and vans that make round-trip trips from Monday to Friday and always within a margin of 24 hours with the same origin and destination. The Sitges-El Vendrell section will continue with the current discount of 70%.
The liberalization of highways in Spain
It was in December 2018 when the AP-1 raised the barriers of the 84-kilometre stretch between Armiñón (Álava) and Burgos: it thus became the first liberalized motorway. The witness picked up, in January 2021, the AP-7 (446 kilometers between Tarragona and Alicante) and the AP-4 (93 kilometers between Dos Hermanas, Seville, and Puerto Real, Cádiz).
That same year, in September, it was the turn of the AP-2 (215 kilometers between Zaragoza and El Vendrell) and part of the AP-7 (245 kilometers between Tarragona and La Junquera / 31 kilometers between Montmeló and El Papiol). The three sections added more than 500 free kilometers to the Spanish road network. They also erected their barriers C-33 (15 kilometers between Barcelona and Montmeló) and another section of the C-32 (77 kilometers between Barcelona and Lloret de Mar).