68% have serious damage

More than half of the Spanish road network accumulates serious or very serious damage. This is how it specifies the latest report of the Spanish Road Association (AEC). And according to the study, the deterioration has skyrocketed in recent years and the bill to fix it now exceeds 13,000 million euros. Among all the Autonomous Communities, Aragón occupies the last place in the ranking of the roads with the worst condition.

A problem that does not stop. In July 2025, the AEC published its audit on the state of the national road network, and according to the association, the roads are in the worst state “since the late 1980s.” In 2022, the AEC estimated in its audit that there were about 13,000 kilometers of roads that had very serious pavement damage. Today that figure is close to 34,000almost triple in just three years.

What exactly does “serious impairment” mean? He report The AEC distinguishes two levels of urgency. On the one hand, there are 34,000 kilometers that need immediate reconstruction (in less than a year) because they present serious structural damage: deep potholes, what is technically called “crocodile skin”, longitudinal and transverse cracks, and peelings in the asphalt. On the other hand, another 20,000 additional kilometers require intervention within four years. In total, more than 54,000 kilometers, out of a total network of 101,700, are in a more or less compromised situation.

The invoice. The accumulated road maintenance deficit amounts to 13,491 million euros, according to the AEC, which updated the figure in 2025 taking into account inflation and the increase in the cost of materials and labor. Compared to 2022, the cost necessary to fine-tune the infrastructure grew by 42.7%. Of that amount, 4,721 million correspond to the State network and 8,770 million to roads managed by autonomous communities and provincial councils.

Aragon tops the ranking. According to the association, 68% of its road network presents serious deterioration, sixteen points above the national average. As the AEC says, it is the only community that is at a “critical” level, which implies that most of its roads are not only bad, but require practically immediate action.

The deficit per kilometer in Aragon reaches 150,632 euros, also the highest in the country. The motor expert Alfonso García ‘Motorman’, analyzed the figures in the COPE program Putting the Streets, counting that “riding on our roads and highways has become a risky activity.”

The state in other Communities. Just behind Aragón, with 59% of its network in serious condition, are Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia. They are followed by Asturias, La Rioja, Castilla y León and the Region of Murcia, all above the 52% national average. At the opposite extreme, the communities with the lowest percentage of deteriorated roads are the Valencian Community (32%), the Madrid Community (38%) and Extremadura (40%).

Driving on bad asphalt is expensive. According to AEC calculations, driving on a road in poor condition can increase fuel consumption by up to 12%. Only during July and August of last year, the association estimated that the overspending on gasoline and diesel derived from the poor condition of the roads would exceed 270 million euros, considering the more than 100 million journeys long-haul that the DGT provided.

According to the report, the deterioration of the pavement also forces the average speed to be reduced by 10%, which makes the transportation of goods more expensive and, as a consequence, pushes up product prices.

AI enters the scene. Until recently, the AEC audited roads with a classic visual inspection methodology, that is, with evaluators traveling sections on foot or by vehicle. In 2023 the transition to a digital inspection system based on artificial intelligence. A vehicle equipped with sensors travels along the road at up to 90 km/h and collects images that are later processed using artificial vision in the cloud.

The result is a sample of 4,000 kilometers compared to the 300 that were previously analyzed with visual methodology.

What solutions are proposed. The AEC has been calling for years for a specific and stable financing fund for road maintenance, which would combine public budgets, European funds, pay-per-use systems and public-private collaboration. Also point to a possible financing route that has no extra cost for drivers: making the special hydrocarbon tax also paid by rail, maritime and air transport. Thus, they say, some 4,091 million euros would be generated annually, enough to liquidate the accumulated deficit in just over three years.

A few weeks ago, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, announced an injection of 1,629 million euros to face the situation, although at the moment it is far from being enough.

Cover image | Commons

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