Autovía A-66

Highway in Spain
Name= Autovía Ruta de la Plata
Signal=
European Route=
Beginning= Gijón
End= Seville
Length= 809The Autovía A-66 is a major highway in western Spain. It also forms part of the European Route E803. The road is an upgrade of the N-630 which is being undertaken section by section. The route roughly corresponds to the ancient Roman 'Silver Route' from the mines of northern Spain to the Mediterranean.

It starts at Sevilla with a junction with the Autovía A-49. It heads north through the wooded "Sierra Morena" and passes over the "Puerto de las Marismas". It then crosses from Andalucia into Extremadura. It heads through the town of Zafra on the way to Mérida crossing the "Tierra de Barros". It ends in a junction with the Autovía A-5.

North of Mérida the road crosses the "Sierra de San Pedro" to the town and world heritage site of Cáceres. Then the road crosses the Tajo and Almonte rivers. The road heads north east as it enters the "Sierra de Gredos". The road becomes the N-630 (at km 489) south of the town of Plasencia. It then heads to the university town of Salamanca via Béjar. The road crosses the Rio Tormes and the Autovía A-62 before travelling north to Zamora and the Rio Duero. 18km north the road meets the reservoir "Embalse del Esla de Ricobayo", here the N631 heads north west to the Autovía A-52, and the N-630 along the Rio Esla to the Autovía A-6. 6km north the A-66 branches to the north with a downgraded N-630 parallel. The road then enters the provence of León.

At León the road becmes a toll Autopista AP-66 and the N-630 a trunk road as they pass through the "Montes de León" and "Sierra Cantábrica". South of León there is a junction with the Autopista AP-71 and Autovía A-231. The N-630 crosses the "Alto del Rabizo" (1,160m) and "Puerto de Pajares" (1,379m). The AP-66 passes through the Túnel de Negrón. Entering Asturias the roads re-converge 36km south of the next major city Oviedo. There is a junction with the Autovía A-64 and AS-1. The A-66 finally ends 13km north of Oviedo at a junction with the Autovía A-8 near Gijón on the Atlantic Coast.