7-685: The Autovía A-8 is a highway ( autovía ) that connects all the regions on the Northern Coast of Spain . It is known as the Autovía del Cantábrico (also known as "Transcantábrica") and connects Baamonde ( Begonte , Galicia ) and Bilbao , where it continues as the Autopista AP-8 to the French border. The road passes Ribadeo , Avilés , Gijón , Santander and Bilbao . Currently the A-8
14-438: 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 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph). Rest areas are usually 300 kilometres (190 mi) or 2 hours apart. There
21-506: Is also the main beltway of the Greater Bilbao conurbation, which has about a million inhabitants in the metropolitan area. This causes great traffic congestion along the stretch of 30 kilometres of the highway that passes by Bilbao and its metropolitan area, from Galdakao to Muskiz . A new toll by-pass of the city, known as Supersur is being built. The by-pass will be 36 km long and most of its length will be tunnels under
28-514: Is called a shadow toll ( Spanish : peaje en la sombra ). 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. Most autovías are restricted to car , motorcycle, and lorry use only. Restricted forms of transport include
35-492: 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 where they are located (in the given example, Navarre ) pays a yearly per-vehicle fee to the company based upon usage statistics. This fee
42-540: The Pagasarri range, as there is no physical space to build it elsewhere. Autov%C3%ADa An autovía is one of two classes of major highway in the Spanish road system similar to a British motorway or an American freeway . It is akin to the autopista , the other major highway class, but has fewer features and is never a toll road . Some distinguishing features of an autovía are that it must be divided by
49-419: The horse , mopeds and tractors . 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. Autovía
#246753