The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility concludes this Tuesday, November 10, the concession period of the AP-68 highway between Bilbao and Zaragoza, a road with a route of 294.4 kilometers.
In this way, management of the highway is to be divided, in each territorial area, between the General Administration of the State, the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, and the Chartered Community of Navarre.
As of November 11, at 00.00 hours, the state-owned section of the AP-68 will be free of tolls and will be available for free use by drivers. In total, this segment adds up to 177 kilometers: 0.3 in the province of Burgos, 119.4 in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, and 57.4 in the Autonomous Community of Aragon.
According to estimates, this decision will benefit more than five million users who travel through these sections each year, with an approximate saving of 97 million euros.
Likewise, Transportes will carry out the progressive dismantling of the toll facilities. At the same time, the service contracts necessary to directly assume the upkeep and operation of the Riojan and Aragonese sections of the highway, as well as of the four service areas located in these autonomous communities, are already being processed.
Improvement actions on the AP-68 highway
With the release of the toll, an increase in traffic on the highway and a redistribution of flows are expected, which will contribute to improving road safety, reducing congestion, and lowering pollution.
To adapt the state network to the new scenario following the suppression of the toll, Transportes has already started work aimed at strengthening the connectivity and permeability of the AP-68, in addition to studying new interventions to optimize the functionality and road safety of the N-232 and N-124 axis, which constitute the alternative route to the AP-68 in La Rioja.
On November 11 itself, new links will enter into service to facilitate accessibility from nearby municipalities in Arrúbal, Villamediana (LR-250), and A-12/Fuenmayor, along with the connection of this last point to the AP-68 via an A-68 section with a new alignment.
Similarly, the project is being prepared to improve the link between the AP-68 and the N-232 in Calahorra, and a services contract has been tendered to draft the connectivity improvement project in Lower La Rioja through a new link in Aldeanueva de Ebro.
The next tender for the remodeling works at the intersection of the N-126 with the AP-68 at the height of Haro is also planned, which will replace the current "T" intersection with a roundabout.
More than 1,200 km of toll-free highways since 2018
Since 2018, tolls have been removed on 1,206 kilometers of state highways. In November 2018, the section of the AP-1 Burgos-Armiñón was opened; in 2020, tolls were removed from the AP-7 between Tarragona and Alicante and from the AP-4 between Seville and Cádiz; and in August 2021 the highways AP-2 Zaragoza-El Vendrell and AP-7 Tarragona - La Jonquera stopped being tolled.