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Ruts, ruts, deep cracks, disintegrations, warps and erratic indentations. These are the most frequent damage to the roads of the Spanish road network, which obtain an average rating of "poor" , just a few points from "very poor".

All this translates into a deficit in the maintenance of all road infrastructures of 7,500 million euros, according to the latest report on Conservation Investment Needs, presented by the Spanish Road Association (AEC).

The report, developed in the second half of 2019 and which affects both the routes that are the competence of the State and those managed by the Autonomous Communities and Provincial Councils, qualifies the abandonment of conservation as "the endemic disease of Spanish roads" and reveals that one in 10 kilometers has a very poor situation, incompatible with safe and green mobility.

A broken beacon.

In fact, the study estimates that the maintenance deficit is responsible for at least 25 million additional tons of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere in the last 10 years. "This is part of the price that Spanish society has had to pay as a result of the inaction of the central and regional governments in what affects the conservation of the road networks under their charge," says the AEC report. A lack of maintenance that has been aggravated during the confinement by the stoppage of work despite the sharp decline in trips.

The study reveals how the lack of conservation is making a dent in Spanish road infrastructures, a heritage with an estimated value of 215,000 million euros, and that as of 2009 has been "left to its own devices, victim of successive and repeated adjustments in public budgets ». Specifically, and for the network dependent on the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, between 2009 and 2019 the resources allocated to road maintenance and safety have been reduced by 76%, according to the report.

This explains the fact that, of the 100,000 kilometers of roads represented in the sample audited by the AEC, a total of 10,000 show serious deterioration in more than 50% of the pavement surface.

Nightmare in bad condition.

In the statistical series collected in the results of the report, it is observed how in 2001 the maintenance of the road network comfortably passed the periodic examination of the AEC, to reach 2019, almost 20 years later, with the worst score of all the historical series.

The study lowers the note of the State network to 141 points out of a maximum of 400, which represents a decrease of 7% compared to the last audit, carried out in 2017, and a loss of 97 points compared to 2001. The pavement of the regional roads obtains 127 points, 84 less than 20 years ago.

7,463 million

Deteriorated vertical signal.

According to the AEC, the maintenance needs of Spanish roads have increased by 5.7% since 2017. Turning this situation around requires, according to the report, a minimum investment of 7,463 million euros, of which 2,376 million would be needed the 25,000-kilometer network managed by the State, and 5,087 million that run by the autonomous and provincial governments, which adds up to a total of 75,000 kilometers.

In addition to the replacement and reinforcement of pavements, 374,000 code signs must be renewed, 72% with expired reflective, repainting the road markings on 38,500 kilometers of roads and improving the metal barriers and markings.

The ACS proposes, as the «only possible solution», the definition of its own, global and sustainable financing space with previous resources from the General Budgets of the State and of the Autonomous Communities and Provincial Councils , plus European Funds similar to aid to the post-covid recovery and, lastly, direct payment systems for the use of highways and highways.

The report emphasizes the increase in emissions caused by poor road maintenance and the increase in fuel consumption, which various studies estimate at 1,200 million . And it questions the viability of the Government's measures in relation to the 2030 Agenda , such as the Safe System Strategy, the Sustainable, Safe and Connected Mobility Strategy and the European Green Pact, if the situation of road infrastructures does not change. 180 degrees.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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