Is a strongmixedstrong funding model for the highway network sustainable.pdfVIP

Is a mixed funding model for the highway network sustainable over time? The Spanish case Germà Bel (Cornell University and Universitat de Barcelona) Xavier Fageda (Universitat de Barcelona) Abstract: High capacity road services in Spain are tolled in some territories and are free in others, while quality is similar everywhere. Is it possible to make progress towards achieving functional and financial uniformity in the currently dual Spanish highway system? This paper focuses attention on this question. First, we briefly review and examine the models of financing applied in Spain, the private sector structure, and the regulation. Then, we discuss different policy choices that could lead to a homogeneous system of highway finance. Among them, the advisability and feasibility of eliminating tolls from motorways, or extending them to the whole network of motorways. Key words: public property, infrastructure transport supply, public and private investment JEL Codes: H41, H54, R42 Is a mixed funding model for the highway network sustainable over time? The Spanish case I. Introduction Toll motorways in Spain are heavily concentrated in two transport corridors, the Mediterranean Coast and the Ebro river Valley. High capacity road services are tolled in some territories and are free in others, while quality is similar everywhere. User tolls were used to finance the first expansion of the motorway network in the sixties and early seventies. The second wave of the network expansion took place in the late eighties and early nineties and depended on the public budget for funds in this period. Since the late nineties, public financing