From January 1st 2020, several private companies handling motorway (highway) toll payments in Spain will see some of their concessions expire, meaning that a handful of motorway sections will no longer require drivers to pay tolls.
One of these is the AP-7 between the cities of Tarragona, Valencia and Alicante.
According to the Michelin guide, this motorway in eastern Spain linking Catalonia with the Valencia region currently costs €62.37 in tolls for the full 420km-route.
Another toll route that will become free in 2020 is the AP-4 between Seville and Cádiz.
The 120km route which runs from the Andalusian capital to Cádiz on the coast will cease to cost €17.70 for the 25,200 drivers who take the AP-4 every day.
The third and final motorway (autopista in Spanish) section that will become toll-free in 2020 is the considerably shorter AP-1 between the town of Armiñón on the outskirts of the Basque country’s capital Vitoria and the northern city of Burgos.
The one-hour 95km route will cease to cost €8.62 in tolls from January 1st.
Another important motorway route that will become toll-free is the AP-2 between Barcelona and Zaragoza, which currently costs €58.63 in peaje (toll in Spanish) for the three-hour journey.
Unfortunately, drivers will have to wait a year before benefitting from this, as the government concession granted to the private company handling tolls for this route expires at the end of 2020.
Overall, average toll prices for Spanish motorways will increase by 0.84 percent in 2020, compared to 1.91 percent in 2018 and 1.67percent in 2019.
One of the steepest toll hikes will be that of the AP-9, the motorway that links northern and southern Galicia, which will go up to €22.10 in tolls for the full route.