34-797: The Autopista AP-6 (also called Autopista del Noroeste or Carretera de La Coruña (Madrid-La Coruña National Road or N-VI ) is a part of the Spanish A-6 Autopista del Noroeste starting at Las Rozas de Madrid and finished at Adanero. Between Las Rozas and Collado Villalba, is a freeway. All of it is a Free/tollway or a Motorway. Las Rozas-Collado Villalba is not a Spanish "Autovía" autopista toll route which starts in Collado Villalba and ends in Adanero (Ávila). The portion, between Las Rozas and Collado Villalba, forms part of it, but without toll. Madrid-Las Rozas, Adanero-Arteixo (province of La Coruña) on
68-567: A larger network of road than motorways, Spain is one of the countries with the lowest motorway fatality-rates per 1.000 km of motorways, after Finland, Denmark, Croatia, and Hungary: 18.1 fatalities per 1000 kilometers of motorways. Source: [1] Spain uses this color code for highways. Most of the high capacity roads in Spain are under the authority of the General Roads Directorate ( Spanish : Dirección General de Carreteras ) of
102-602: A total length of 70 km of tollway/toll paying motorway, and the Autopista del Noroeste, entire, 92 km, with Las Rozas-Villalba's freeway. Highways in Spain The Spanish motorway (highway) network is the third largest in the world, by length. As of 2019 , there are 17,228 km (10,705 mi) of High Capacity Roads ( Spanish : Vías de Gran Capacidad ) in the country. There are two main types of such roads, autopistas and autovías , which differed in
136-505: Is considered that the construction of motorways has helped to increase safety in Spanish roads, while generating a traffic increase. Fatalities on motorways have decreased from 776 in 2006 to 277 in 2015. Spain is one of the countries of the EU with most of the road fatalities occurring on motorways rather than on other roads: 16% in 2015. But the same year, taking into account the fact that Spain has
170-622: Is the case, for example, with the AS-III, which is an upgrade of the AS-17. The prefix is always AS, and Roman numerals are used. *: planned/in construction All of the roads in the Balearic Islands were transferred to the regional government when the Autonomous Community was formed, and several are now under the competence of the several Island Councils ( Consell Insular ). The prefix denotes
204-587: The A-381 or Bull's route (90 km from Jerez de la Frontera to Algeciras) *: planned/in construction The community of Aragon has only very recently started building its own highway network. The first span was opened to traffic just in 2008, and there are at least three more highways in study. Due to the limited financial capabilities of the Aragon regional government, many of them might be built as toll roads . *: in construction — †: planned The highway network in
238-548: The AP-68 are under the direct authority of the Spanish government as part of the Red de carreteras del Estado (National Road Network). Currently, roads are managed by the three Diputaciones Forales of the Basque provinces. The fact that such transfer took place before the thorough renaming of national roads and highways in 2003 makes the naming of transferred "national" highways inconsistent with
272-582: The Autonomous Communities, splitting them up as necessary; while the national roads (N-nnn) that formed the primary network were mostly kept by the State. The level of control each community has over its road network varies: the Basque Country and Navarre have received the titularity of nearly all roads in their territories, while in other communities the regional network coexists with and complements
306-717: The Ministry of Public Works, a department of the central Government of Spain , with the exceptions of Navarre and the Basque Country , the only autonomous communities which have been transferred full powers over all roads in their territories. Usually, the DGC manages all road maintenance, but in the case of the tolled autopistas , the management is commonly delegated to the concessionaire company. Traditionally, purpose-built autopistas or autovías were assigned names starting with A plus one or two numbers describing their general orientation, while upgraded autovías kept their original names. Thus,
340-514: The Spanish Traffic Law as 60–120 km/h (35–75 mph), though there are groups that ask for the latter to be raised to 140 km/h (85 mph). Specific limits may be imposed based on road, meteorologic or traffic conditions. Autopistas are specifically reserved for automobile travel, so all vehicles not able to sustain at least 60 km/h (35 mph) are banned from them. Thus, they may not be an upgrade to an older road, since
374-543: The Spanish legislation requires an alternative route to be provided for such vehicles. Many, but not all, autopistas are toll roads, which also mandates an alternative toll-free route (though not necessarily a freeway) under the Spanish laws. An example is the AP-2 toll autopista, which links Zaragoza with Barcelona through the Monegros desert . In this case, the alternative is the N-II ,
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#1732884358937408-797: The authority of the Autonomous Communities . For example, the A-8 road in the Basque Country is a tolled autopista , as are the C-16, C-32 and C-33 in Catalonia. Other communities such as Madrid do follow the convention, and have names as MP-203 for a tolled road and M-501 for a free autovía . Furthermore, roads under the authority of the Andalusian government also start with A, but they have longer numeric codes and different coloring. The roads listed below form
442-885: The backbone of the Spanish high capacity network, connecting all provincial capitals and other major towns and destinations. Until recently, the network suffered from a high radiality, which collapsed the several Madrid beltways and the roads into the city and region. Since the 2000s, an effort to improve the situation was made based on two actions: *: under construction † : planned Fraga — AP-2 — Lleida (A-22, LL-11) — Cervera (C-25) — Martorell (AP-7) — B-23 — L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (B-10) Tordera (C-32) — * — Caldes de Malavella — Fornells de la Selva — † — Girona — † — Figueres — † — France Southern span : La Robla (N-630) — † — León (AP-66/AP-71, A-231) — Benavente (A-52/A-6) — Zamora (A-11) — Salamanca (A-62) — Plasencia (EX-A1) — Cáceres — Mérida (A-5) — Seville (SE-30) Most beltways, full or partial, have originated from
476-569: The example of the other insular community in Spain, all roads in the Canary Islands are under the authority of either the regional government or one of the several Island Councils ( cabildo insular ). The prefix denotes the island, and identifiers are usually white on blue background. Another community that has recently started building its own high capacity road network, Castilla-La Mancha has completed one autovía and has at least five more in varied states of advanced planning and building. In
510-568: The fact that most regional roads start with the letter A (for Andalucía ), which is also used by the national government for highways. The most notable Andalusian freeways are the A-92 or Washington Irving 's route (with 400 km from Seville to Granada and Almería is the longest regional freeway in Spain), the A-316 & A-318 or Olive Tree's route (200 km from Estepa to Úbeda, still under construction) and
544-409: The first to be twinned in the 60s into dual carriageways (with at-level intersections) and then were upgraded to limited-access freeways in the 70s-80s, keeping most of their old route unchanged except where the old national road ventured into towns. In those cases, the freeway would make a semi-loop called a variante around the town, leaving the old national road as the access between the freeway and
578-510: The flat La Mancha , relief does not usually require costly tunnels and bridges, though the region does contain several nature reserves including the Tablas de Daimiel National Park wetlands. Highway identifiers are white on blue background. Borox — * — Añover de Tajo *: in construction — †: planned The largest community in Spain by land area, Castile and León has a dense road network, but until recently most of its highways had been part of
612-491: The freeway that is currently known as A-5 was still reported as N-V in road signs for years after the upgrade was completed, making it difficult for drivers to know in advance which roads had become autovías. However, in 2003 all Spanish motorways were uniformly renamed with the following criteria: All such names are posted in white letters on blue background, like: A-49 or AP-4 . Note that none of these naming and coloring requisites affect roads under
646-452: The island, and the second letter (if any) is lowercase. Autopista identifiers are white on blue background, while twinned roads closer to the autovía category keep their identifiers. A special case together with Navarre, the Basque Country has received full powers over most roads in its territory, including the national roads that comprised the primary network, and nowadays only the AP-1 and
680-407: The main lanes, which are better represented by the dual carriageway concept. Avenida de la Paz (Eastern section) A-1/M-11—A-2—M-23—A-3—A-4 Avenida del Manzanares (Western section) A-4-A-42—A-5—M-500—A-6—M-40 Avenida de la Ilustración (Northern section, unfinished) M-40 * M-607 * A-1/M-11 *: under construction The formation of the several Autonomous Communities in the early 1980s led to
714-454: The mountainous Principality of Asturias is severely limited by the complexity of its relief, with a dense network of river valleys in between ranges such as the Picos de Europa . Vertebral Asturian motorways have identifiers in the style of national ones, that is, white text on blue background, while roads in process of upgrading keep their old nomenclature until the full route is completed. Such
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#1732884358937748-632: The national network: the A-1 is still called the N-I in the Basque Country, and the same identifier (A-8) applies to the tolled and toll-free parts of the Autopista del Cantábrico in Biscay. Furthermore, new highways built since then by the provinces have one of the following prefixes: A for Álava -Araba , BI for Biscay ( Vizcaya-Bizkaia ) or GI for Guipúzcoa -Gipuzkoa . *: in construction — †: planned Following
782-552: The national one. Whatever the extension of the road network under its control, all communities have full powers over naming and identification of their roads, provided no name conflicts with a national road or a regional road of a neighbouring community. The regional highway network of Andalusia is very extensive, as the territory itself spans nearly a fifth of Spain. There are no special codes for identifying highways: upgraded roads usually keep their name and sign color (orange, green or yellow). However, confusion sometimes arises due to
816-496: The national road that preceded the A-2 autovía. On the other hand, autovías are usually (though not always) upgrades from older roads, and always untolled. In general, slow vehicles like bicycles and agricultural machinery are allowed under certain restrictions so as to not disrupt the traffic excessively or cause any danger. Furthermore, an autovía will most likely follow the original road very closely, only deviating from it to bypass
850-631: The national system. The terrain is varied, from the plains of the Meseta to the rugosities of the Montes de León , and archeological remains abound. Regional highways are renamed to A-nnn, always with three digits to avoid clashes with the national network, but usually keeping the original number of the upgraded regional road CL-nnn. Identifiers are white on blue background. Autov%C3%ADa del Nordeste The Autovía A-2 (also called Autovia del Nordeste and Avenida de América , Catalan : Autovia del Nord-est )
884-559: The operations at four new motorways were transferred to private companies, three by the Catalan region and one by the national government. Building of new sections of autovia was increased before the 1992 Olympic Games and the Sevilla World Fair. The 1984-1992 National Plan built around 3500 kilometers of new autovia , to reach a network length of 6000 kilometres by 1992, at a cost of 184 million pesetas (around 1 million euros). At
918-474: The same route is a Spanish "autovía" not a free/tollway, motorway, either a two-lane road. "Autovia" is in the middle between both road types, but the crosses always are with bridges like in the motorways/toll/freeway. The first kilometres of freeway/free motorway between Las Rozas and Collado Villalba were the first kilometres of freeway/motorway in Spain since 1967. The Autopista AP-6; with toll, (from Collado Villalba km 40 to Adanero km 109 from Madrid) has
952-530: The same time, the new autovia standard was closer to the autopista standard, as the old autovia standard was understood as not providing enough safety. This generated increasing project costs. Since traffic density is generally lower in Spain than France, it was required that some motorways were to be untolled. Despite a lower traffic density, Spanish motorways remain profitable, because tolls are twice higher in Spain than in France. Between 2005 and 2014, Spain
986-512: The strictness of the standards they are held to. Between 1990 and 2012 Spain had one of the highest rates of motorway growth in Europe. The first motorways named autopista were financed using sovereign debt. At the end of the 1980s, and before Olympic Games in 1992 in Barcelona, the autonomous Catalan government was interested in increasing the speed limit on new motorways. Between 1987 and 1990,
1020-420: The town. New autovías usually have perfectly normal acceleration and deceleration lanes, very safe turns and transitable shoulders. Thus, the practical difference between a "new" autovía and a generic autopista is mainly the frequency of exits, which is usually higher in an autovía - upgraded from an old road with many crosses - than in a new, purpose-designed autopista with fewer preconditions imposed on it. It
1054-451: The towns (which are looped around in variantes ). Thus, the upgraded road usually serves as the base for one of the two directions of the new autovía, which means the turns can be steeper than in autopistas. All in all, an autovía : However, most of the situations listed here only apply to the oldest autovías, and mainly to the radial A-1 through A-6 plus the A-42 near their endpoints, which were
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1088-416: The transfer of many roads to the new regional authorities. Since then, several of those roads have been upgraded to motorway level in order to ensure the internal vertebration of the region, or to provide alternative high-capacity routes to those managed by the national government when those were inadequate or saturated. All of the old comarcal roads (C-nnn) comprising the secondary network were transferred to
1122-420: The upgrading of one or several roads reaching the town to the autovía level, as the several variantes looping around the town were joined in a single beltway that received a new naming such as TO-20 or Z-40. The list below only contains roads that are recognized as autovías or autopistas for at least part of its length, thus disqualifying urban arteries with at-grade intersections or unrestricted direct access to
1156-412: Was the EU country which best performed for decreasing fatalities on motorways, with a decrease score of 66%. The distinction between two kinds of high capacity roads is mainly a historical one, seldom with practical consequences for most but the oldest motorways. Both kinds are divided highways with full access control and at least two lanes per direction. General speed limits for both are mandated by
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