The C-32 highway is becoming a testing ground for cutting-edge projects within Abertis' Future Road Lab and the Awai app, including ultra-fast electric vehicle charging stations and a renowned customer service system designed by Autopistas. The infrastructure, owned by the Government of Catalonia, is the new mobility laboratory that aims to expand across the entire road network. These initiatives are also part of the Government of Catalonia's Connected and Intelligent Roads Program.

"Let it be over, let it be over!" The co-driver of this car does not hide his euphoria as he passes, for the last time, through the toll of La Roca del Vallès. There is another who, minutes later, will express the same emotion by waving to this iconic orange-roofed construction. Most simply opt for the horn. This is how they celebrate "the milestone", which is how the Spanish Minister of Transport, Raquel Sanchez, will refer to the end of tolls on the AP-7 and AP-2, and greet all the media waiting for her at the roadside. The head of this department arrives late to her appointment with the press due to the accumulation of traffic the toll generates. "Fortunately this image will be history in a few hours", she says shortly after arriving.

Little by little the details of the plan sent by the Spanish government to Brussels, which includes its commitments to structural reforms in order to justify the arrival of European funds, are becoming known. After the mess surrounding the suppression of reductions for joint tax returns, which seems to be definitively rejected after being included in the plan, now comes another important novelty: the gradual introduction of a pay-as-you-go service on the state road network, that is to say, the generalisation of tolls, a payment system that until now basically punished Catalonia and the Valencia.

The lifting of tolls has a direct effect on traffic, according to data from motorways where the tolls have been removed after decades. On January 1, 2020, several toll sections were lifted and during the first year of toll-free use, car traffic has increased by up to 40% despite the pandemic, according to data from the Ministry of Transport obtained by ARA.