Skip to main content

Spain needs €6.5bn road infrastructure investment, says SHA

Spain needs around €6.5 billion spent on its road infrastructure to bring it back up to ‘reasonable’ quality standard, according to a report drawn up by the Spanish Highways Association (SHA). The huge works’ bill is said by the SHA to be due to the deterioration of the roads since 1985. According to McKinsey, this investment could be reduced if tendering authorities made more effort when it came to project analysis. By improving the use of engineering services by 3% to 5% per investment, cost savings of
April 14, 2014 Read time: 1 min
Spain needs around €6.5 billion spent on its road infrastructure to bring it back up to ‘reasonable’ quality standard, according to a report drawn up by the Spanish Highways Association (SHA).

The huge works’ bill is said by the SHA to be due to the deterioration of the roads since 1985. According to McKinsey, this investment could be reduced if tendering authorities made more effort when it came to project analysis. By improving the use of engineering services by 3% to 5% per investment, cost savings of up to 40% could be gained.

Spain is increasingly distancing itself from the average investment made in engineering in Europe, as the government spends fewer funds on infrastructures despite their worsening state. According to Bricard Associates, Spanish investment in engineering comes to under 4.5% of total infrastructure investment, while the European average is 8.4%.

Related Content

  • ARTBA highlights risk of deficient bridges in US and need for investment
    April 24, 2014
    Data from a new government report show that if all the structurally deficient bridges in the United States were placed end-to-end, it would take 25 hours to cross them while driving at 100km/h. The total distance is around 2,500km, roughly the distance between Boston and Miami. The Washington, DC-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is highlighting these findings in a new analysis of US bridge conditions. ARTBA has a list of the top 250 structurally deficient US bridges, state r
  • Self-healing roads, slippery roads and slimmer roads
    November 24, 2017
    This month’s bitumen technology pages bring you self-healing roads, slippery roads and slimmer roads and explains why one UK contractor has started manufacturing its own polymer modified bitumen - Kristina Smith reports. Professor Erik Schlangen, who heads up experimental micromechanics at the Delft University of Technology is receiving calls from all round the world these days. And it is hardly surprising because he and his team have invented a great new technology: asphalt that heals itself.
  • Colombia motorway projects worth US$4.45bn up for tender
    March 15, 2013
    A series of four motorway projects in Colombia, known as the Autopistas de la Prosperidad, covering 844km and costing US$4.45 billion (COP 8tn), will be put out to tender from 11 April 2013. As well as the high profile road schemes, due to be awarded in October 2013, the government has also announced that a programme to boost national growth and productivity will be implemented. The Colombian financial budget for 2013 has been adjusted, signifying a $1 billion drop in foreign loans, while efforts will be ma
  • Winter maintenance challenge
    February 29, 2012
    Many countries had their most severe winter for years, but it could have been much worse without the right equipment and technology as Patrick Smith reports. As many countries faced up to the 2010-2011 winter, hard-pressed maintenance teams did their best to keep things moving on the roads. With some of the lowest temperatures and heaviest snowfalls on record, the UK, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, France, Scandinavia, Germany, and Belgium were among those affected. Russia, eastern Europe and the USA did