An ''autovía'' is one of two classes of major highway in the Spanish road system similar to a British

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

or an American

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. It is akin to the autopista, the other major highway class, but has fewer features and is never a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

. Some distinguishing features of an ''autovía'' are that it must be divided by a median, it must have restricted access, and it cannot be crossed by other roads. While autopistas are generally new routes, ''autovías'' are normally improvements to existing roads, so they may have tighter curves and less safe accesses, often with shorter acceleration lanes. However, both have nominal speed limits of .

Rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, Limited-access road, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names ...

s are usually or 2 hours apart. There is usually a safety lane along the median. Although generally state-owned and financed, there are some ''autovías'' which are actually built and maintained by private companies, such as Pamplona-Logroño A-12. The company assumes the building costs and the

Autonomous Community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

where they are located (in the given example,

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

) pays a yearly per-vehicle fee to the company based upon usage statistics. This fee is called a shadow toll ().Capital Madrid, March 30, 2007
/ref> The system can be regarded as a way for the Government to finance the construction of new roads without any initial outlay of money. Also, since payment starts after the road is finished, there are fewer construction delays in comparison with regular state-owned construction.

Restricted Access

Most ''autovías'' are restricted to

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

, motorcycle, and

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

use only. Restricted forms of transport include the

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

mopeds A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. ...

and

tractors A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

. Because ''autovías'' often exist as an improvement to an existing road, users of these restricted forms of transport may often find themselves having to take long diversions in order to reach their intended destination. It is very rare that alternative routes will be provided for these users. Bicycles may travel on the shoulders of some ''autovías'', but not autopistas.

List of Autovías

* A-1 *A-12 - Pamplona to Logroño * A-62 *A-73 -

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

Aguilar de Campoo Aguilar de Campoo () is a town and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain located in the North of province of Palencia, autonomous community of Castile and León. The River Pisuerga flows through its historic centre. Its 2011 population was ...

* A-231 - Autovía del

Camino de Santiago The Camino de Santiago (, ; ), or the Way of St. James in English, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tra ...

, León to Burgos

Other uses

''Autovía'' was also the name of a 2 car DMU train of the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México that operated between

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...

and Chihuahua, Mexico. ''Autovías'' is the name of the first-class service of the Herradura de Plata Mexican bus company operating in the vicinity of the Mexican state of

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Autovia Controlled-access highways Road transport in Spain Types of roads es:Autovía

Restricted Access

List of Autovías

Other uses

See also

References