The Autovía A-66 is a major highway in western Spain, part of the European route E803. The road is an upgrade of the N-630 which is being undertaken section by section. The route roughly corresponds to the ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

' Silver Route' connecting the cities of Mérida and Astorga. The final section of road south of Benavente is under construction as of October 2013 with completion anticipated in 2015.

Route

Autovía A-66 starts at

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

with a junction with the

Autovía A-49 The Autovía A-49https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2015/09/30/pdfs/BOE-A-2015-10439.pdf is a major highway in Andalusia, Spain. It starts on the ring road of Seville and heads west with a spur south A-483 to Almonte, the Costa de la Luz and the Doñan ...

. It heads north through the wooded ''

Sierra Morena The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It stretches for 450 kilometres from east to west across the south of the Iberian Peninsula, forming the southern border of the '' Meseta Central'' plateau and pro ...

'' and passes over the ''Puerto de las Marismas''. It then crosses from Andalucia into Extremadura. It heads through the town of

Zafra Zafra () is a town situated in the Province of Badajoz (Extremadura, Spain), and the capital of the comarca of Zafra - Río Bodión. It has a population of 16,677, according to the 2011 census. Zafra is the hometown of Fray Ruy Lopez, autho ...

on the way to Mérida crossing the ''Tierra de Barros''. It ends in a junction with the Autovía A-5. North of Mérida the road crosses the ''Sierra de San Pedro'' to the town and world heritage site of Cáceres. Then the road crosses the Tajo and Almonte rivers. The road heads north east as it enters the ''Sierra de Gredos''. The road becomes the N-630 (at km 489) south of the town of Plasencia. It then heads to the university town of Salamanca via Béjar. The road crosses the Rio Tormes and the Autovía A-62. The section north of Zamora leading to the

Rio Duero The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

. 18 km north where the road will meet the reservoir ''Embalse del Esla de Ricobayo'' is under construction as of October 2013. Here the N-630 heads north west to the

Autovía A-52 The A-52 is a highway in northwestern Spain. It starts at Vigo heads east from the town crossing the Autopista AP-9 and then the N-550/Autovía A-55. It then goes over the Rio Tea running parallel to the N-120 and along the Rio Miño. At Ou ...

, and the N-630 along the Rio Esla to the

Autovía A-6 The Autovía A-6 or Autopista AP-6 (also called ''Autovía del Noroeste'') ( gl, Autovía do Noroeste) is a Spanish autovía and autopista route that starts in Madrid and ends in Arteixo (A Coruña). The tolled Autopista AP-6, from Villalba t ...

. 6 km north the A-66 branches to the north with a downgraded N-630 parallel. The road then enters the province of León.

Autopista AP-66

At León the road becomes a toll Autopista AP-66 and the N-630 a trunk road as they pass through the ''Montes de León'' and ''Sierra Cantábrica''. South of León there is a junction with the

Autopista AP-71 The Autopista AP-71 (also known as ''Autopista León - Astorga'') is an autopista in the province of León, in the community of Castile and León, Spain. It is 37.5 km (23.3 miles) long and runs, parallel to the N-120 road, from the junction of ...

and Autovía A-231. The N-630 crosses the ''Alto del Rabizo'' (1,160m) and

Puerto de Pajares The Puerto de Pajares is a mountain pass through the Cantabrian Mountains between the provinces of Asturias and Léon, Spain. The pass has been historically important to Asturias as the lowest elevation direct route between the capital, Oviedo, ...

(1,379m). Inaugurated on 11 August 1983, the AP-66 avoid these two passes and goes through the Negrón Tunnel, the sixth longest tunnel in Spain. Entering Asturias, the roads re-converge 36 km south of the next major city Oviedo. There is a junction with the Autovía A-64 and AS-I. The A-66 finally ends 13 km north of Oviedo at a junction with the Autovía A-8 near Gijón on the Atlantic Coast.

References

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