The Catalonia road maintenance staff crisis has reached a critical point. State road maintenance services in Catalonia have suffered a dramatic reduction in workforce over the last decade. Staff numbers have practically halved since 2013. This depletion of human resources comes despite a significant expansion of the road network. Consequently, civil servants have issued urgent warnings regarding road safety and operational capacity.
According to official data, the number of state road service personnel in Catalonia dropped from 158 in 2013 to just 82 in 2023. This stark reduction has been formally denounced in a letter addressed to the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente. The civil servants themselves describe a system under severe strain.
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Expanding Network, Shrinking Workforce
The timing of these cuts has created a ‘perfect storm’ for infrastructure management. While staff numbers plummeted, the length of the state-managed network in the region grew by approximately 20%. This increase is largely due to the reversion of over 400 kilometres of former toll motorways—specifically the AP-7 and AP-2—back to state control.
Professionals within the sector report that seven new conservation sectors have been established to manage this expanded territory. However, they have received “no additional staffing”. Furthermore, the workload has intensified due to greater technical demands associated with new regulations and technologies.
A continuous wave of retirements, uncompensated by new hires with equivalent experience, has further strained the department. Civil servants warn that this “gravely tensions the operational, planning, and control capacity” of the demarcation. This situation is reportedly mirrored in other road demarcations across Spain.
Engineers Warn of Critical Safety Risks
The Association of State Civil Engineers of Roads, Canals and Ports has expressed “deep concern” regarding the Catalonia road maintenance staff crisis. In their communication to the Minister, they emphasised that this is not merely an internal corporate grievance. It is a matter of public interest with “direct and growing consequences on the quality and safety of the public service”.
“Accidents that have occurred in transport infrastructures in recent years show that a management insufficiently equipped with human resources can have irreversible consequences.”Association of State Civil Engineers
The engineers argue that maintaining critical infrastructure requires complex technical decision-making. It also needs immediate reaction capabilities and permanent asset control. Ultimately, human lives are at stake in these tasks.
Recruitment Crisis and ‘Brain Drain’
The crisis is exacerbated by a lack of attractiveness in the positions offered. High responsibility—including legal and patrimonial liability—coupled with a requirement for almost absolute availability, is not being met with commensurate remuneration. Therefore, the Ministry is suffering from a “progressive decapitalization”.
Highly qualified professionals are increasingly leaving for other public administrations or sectors. These sectors offer superior pay and working conditions. This exodus is compromising the Ministry’s ability to retain the technical base necessary to plan and build infrastructure.
Attempts to replenish the workforce have so far proved insufficient. A recent recruitment drive offered 236 positions—the largest in the body’s history. However, it attracted the lowest number of applicants in twenty years. Currently, with only around 662 active staff in the specific civil servant body nationally, the offer represented nearly 30% of the total workforce. This highlights a lack of long-term strategic planning in human resources.
Impact on Future Projects
The shortage of personnel is forcing operational units to outsource tasks completely. This leads to a loss of direct knowledge regarding the state road network—a strategic national asset. Moreover, the engineers warn that simply increasing the budget for maintenance will be ineffective. An organisational structure is needed to execute it.
New strategic objectives, such as sustainability, digitalisation, and innovation, are currently deemed “impossible to implement” due to the staff shortage. Despite raising these issues twice with the Ministry’s undersecretary, the engineers report that no effective solutions have been proposed to date. This mirrors a wider crisis affecting public services like transport and infrastructure.
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