Splendor in the 90
The definitive consolidation of the AEC came in the 90s. Coinciding with the great growth of the Spanish road network, the Association achieved enormous institutional development and great public projection, thanks, among other things, to its effective communication policy .
One of the main problems that the Administration had to face in these years was the scarce coordination between those responsible for highways in the different autonomous communities. In order to help put an end to this situation, the Spanish Road Association promotes the creation of the Board of Directors General of Autonomous Communities and Provincial Councils, a body that continues to meet regularly today. The General Directors gathered, in addition to discussing issues of common interest, agree on policies in certain areas (hiring systems, road safety, etc.).
During the 90s the work of the AEC was incessant, and apart from the congresses of fixed periodicity, many other meetings were held that were very successful both in terms of attendance and organization: SPRINT (Barcelona, 1994), SHARP (Barcelona, 1995) , European Congress of Draining Mixes (Madrid, 1997) and large meetings organized with the autonomous communities such as the National Congress of Firm (with the Junta de Castilla y León in 1996 and 1998) or the I Andalusian Road Congress (COAC), in 1998.
But above all of them the XII World Congress of the International Road Federation (IRF), held in Madrid in 1993, stood out in its own light. It was the litmus test for the Spanish Road Association, which, for the first time, organized a world meeting of similar dimensions and characteristics.
The deployment of material and human resources was colossal and the results were excellent: around 3.000 participants representing almost 100 countries, an exhibition of 3.000 m2 in which 73 stands were built and a luxury presidency held by King Juan Carlos I, in charge of opening the sessions. That same year, the Board of Directors of the Association awarded Don Juan Carlos the highest award of the AEC, the Gold Medal of the Road.
On the other hand, the Association's activities in the Spanish-American environment, together with those related to the European Union, constitute two fundamental lines of action during this decade.
The collaboration with the countries of the center and south of the American continent was extraordinary during these years, creating in 1996 the Cooperation Program in Ibero-America on Technical and Scientific Information on highways. Along the same lines, in 1999, the 10th Ibero-Latin American Asphalt Congress took place in Seville, in which more than 1.000 congressmen registered.
