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As transport infrastructure substantially contributes to economic growth, implementing suitable financing schemes becomes essential to face road expenditure and keep the road network in optimal condition. This paper shows an overview of road financing approaches applied in an international context, specifically Europe and the United States. Next, it establishes an economic balance between revenue and expenditure in the road sector in several countries. Results show that the higher the road earmarking ratio of the financing model, the higher seems to be the level of road maintenance expenditure. Furthermore, the analysis points out that, despite a great effort made during the last years, level of maintenance expenditure in Spain Is still lower than in other countries of the same characteristics. As a result, it seems necessary to implement a new mechanism to provide stable and non budgetary-dependant revenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]