According to the Spanish news agency, Efe, the four sections that remain toll free are the state roads AP-2 and AP-7 and the municipal roads C-32 and C-33, which have been the scene of major traffic jams and protests by anti toll movements.

Now only 120 kilometres of roads in Catalonia are subject to tolls, namely the C-32, with the Garraf tunnels, and the C-16, between Sant Cugat-Terrassa-Manresa, with concessions that will not end until end of the next decade.

Preparations for the end of the tolls began during Tuesday at some points, and around 20:00, cars were already circulating without paying in places such as the La Roca toll, on the AP-7.

The Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, admitted that one of the great unknowns is to define how toll-free roads will be maintained in the long term, and clarified that the Government wants to apply a pollution tax system, although she said which "will have nothing to do" with the current toll system.

The Spanish government has already declared "assuming that it wants a competitive and sustainable road network", in order to guarantee that this infrastructure can be financed mainly by the people who use it, following the motto of 'those who pollute pay'".

The end of tolls in Catalonia will mean savings of 752 million euros a year for drivers in the autonomous region and Aragon.

The European Commission, for its part, called for a new form of payment to be established in 2024 that assumes the principle that those who use the infrastructure and those who pollute the most pay.