"It happens with the roads as it happens with the train. We have demonstrated the capacity to build large infrastructures and the inability to maintain them. It is a serious problem for the country," Jacobo Díaz, general director of the Spanish Road Association (AEC), told this newspaper some time ago. Although he also congratulated himself because what was a question among technicians has entered the social debate, "which can generate a response to the problem."
A social debate, by the way, amplified by the noise of the hundreds of car tire blowouts that occurred at the beginning of last year on roads such as the A4 that connects Seville and Madrid due to the potholes and potholes in the road. But they continue to occur throughout a network made up of nearly 166,000 kilometers of roads of all types of ownership, of the Central State (RCE), of the CCAA and of the Provincial Councils and Cabildos. And they will multiply now that bad weather is arriving, a factor that accelerates the alarming deterioration of infrastructure that supports 96% of freight transport and 84% of travelers in Spain.
The impact of weather
For example, what is a small crack today ends up becoming a pothole when it rains and that water freezes and expands. To this we must add the structural damage of the hundreds of thousands of trucks and buses in circulation; and the need to update much of the signage. Everything under the sword of Damocles that experts repeat: "One euro that is not invested today is four or five to be spent years later."
To summarize: according to the study prepared by the AEC every two years and whose latest data refers to 2024, the situation of our roads - most of them free and for many years the envy of Europe - is the worst since the late 1980s. More than half of the network (52%) requires improvements and 33,966 km "need urgent reconstruction in less than a year." Which implies that we have a record conservation and maintenance deficit: 13,491 million euros, 42.3% more than in the previous report, although almost half of the increase is due to inflation.
More truck traffic, your worst enemy
Federico Soria, president of ACEX, the Association of Infrastructure Conservation and Exploitation Companies, estimates the necessary expenditure at 5,000 million euros annually: 2,000 million for the State Highway Network (including first-generation highways), the same for the regional network and the remaining 1,000 million on account of the provincial councils and councils.
"There has been a sustained lack of investment since 2009, aggravated with the passage of time, adverse weather phenomena and a substantial increase in traffic," adds Soria. For example, road freight transport grew by 36% between 2016 and 2025, reaching 351,129 million ton-kilometers, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Temporary signage, a patch
Meanwhile, other statistics show that the volume of investment in maintenance and conservation carried out by all Administrations is very far from what is required, with a maximum of 3,054 million in 2024. Perhaps because "inauguration always gives more profit than conservation."
So patches are often used as yellow signs that warn that the road is in poor condition. Or a row of cones that prevent driving in a lane on a highway. Months can go by without anyone working to fix the situation. "It is a formula with which the owners of the road cover their backs. The problem has been detected and there will even be a project to solve it, but since there is a lack of money, the speed is lowered to a safer one and signs are posted," explains the president of ACEX.
Lack of budgets
In this sense, the situation has been aggravated by the systematic non-compliance of the Pedro Sánchez Government, which has still not approved new General State Budgets and has been extending those for 2023 for four years. Added to this is the end of the Next Generation European funds this December.
The EU establishes that this money "can only be allocated to new public works projects", as pointed out by Julián Nuñez, president of Seopan, the Association of Infrastructure Construction Companies and Concessionaires. But ACEX points out that they have been used in actions such as "humanization of crossings, modernization of tunnels and protection of fauna and vulnerable users", which is why they consider them within the conservation and maintenance budgets, representing up to 20% of the investments made by Transport in the last three years for that purpose.
The courts stop Transport
In this sense, in April Minister Óscar Puente presented an extraordinary plan to improve the pavement on 5,000 km of roads in the RCE with an investment of 1,629 million and whose first phase would be developed between 2027 and 2031. Then, in June, the Executive authorized the expenditure of 1,006 million on conservation tasks... which have been provisionally paralyzed by the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Resources.
The reason is ACEX's appeal against Transport's decision to change the contracting system for maintenance and conservation projects, abandoning the competition/bidding formula to go to an auction after the corruption cases uncovered in that ministry. "It penalizes quality, aggravates the deterioration of roads and compromises the viability of many companies," they warn from that employer's association, where they are still waiting for the court's resolution. Seopan has also shown its concern, although much more nuanced.
Pay for use of free highways?
With a deterioration that is increasing and with less funds, the specter of charging for use - also for foreigners - of the almost 13,000 km of highways that today are free in Spain, something unparalleled in Europe, resurfaces. Although the project that the Government discarded in 2024 left the door open to put a tax on all roads.
The previous Executive of Mariano Rajoy also considered this formula, which remains kept in a drawer "until its social cost is bearable", according to Jacobo Díaz, from the AEC, who proposes alternatives such as ending the exemption from the hydrocarbon tax on trains, planes and ships. Federico Soria adds that any change in the financing formula "will take a minimum of two years, must be finalist and take into account that road transport already supports a high tax burden."
In fact, last year alone the automotive sector entered the public coffers 41,995 million euros (4% more) with the payment of all types of taxes and of that figure, 55% (23,173 million) came via fuel, according to data from the employers' association Anfac.
As a warning to boaters, in Catalonia, the Government of Salvador Illa does not rule out recovering some tolls on the AP7 due to the lack of maintenance, the collapse in traffic and the increase in accidents that have been recorded since they were free.
Impact on accidents
Finally, the deterioration of these infrastructures influences the accident rate, although the DGT minimizes this impact and does not offer data on how many accidents are caused directly by the road. For example, a high-speed blowout caused by a sinkhole. He only talks about influence. "A pavement in poor condition, poor signage or unprotected margins do not in themselves cause the accident: they turn an error into a tragedy," argue the RACE Foundation. That is to say, a situation that opposes the modern concept of forgiving roads that this club defends.
