AP-1 motorway first to go toll-free: No charges after end of November
Thursday, November 8, 2018 @ 11:30 PM
THE FIRST of Spain's toll motorways to become free of charge will be the AP-1, starting on December 1 this year, confirms minister of public works José Luis Ábalos.
Once the toll franchise expires at the end of this month, the motorway between the cathedral city of Burgos in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León and the town of Armiñón in the Basque province of Álava – the capital of which is Vitoria-Gasteiz – will no longer carry a fee.
An idea originally floated by the previous national government, led by the right-wing PP until June, scrapping tolls on motorways was never a plan set in stone, although the then ministry of public works was seriously considering it.
Now, the left-wing socialist government which gained power in June has committed to following through with the promise, which will not only save money for regular travellers but also cut gridlocks and air pollution through small towns and on secondary roads, since lorries and cars will not have to use them to avoid the tolls.
The next two to go will be the AP-4 between Sevilla and Cádiz, and the AP-7 down the east coast.
Starting at the French border at the top of the province of Girona and continuing as far as Cartagena (Murcia), the AP-7 turns into the toll-free A-7 intermittently – between Sagunto, on the Valencia-Castellón province border, and Silla, just south of Valencia, then from San Juan in the south of Alicante province onwards, although if continuing from the latter south along the coast towards Murcia rather than inland towards the Costa del Sol, the AP-7 toll route continues as far as Cartagena.
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