It is likely that you have ever encountered the following situation while driving on a highway: you needed to stop at a gas station and finally you had to turn off onto a road and drive a few kilometers until you found the establishment that you had seen indicated. What you thought was going to represent a fleeting stop ended up becoming a short excursion along a regional or local road until you managed to connect the hose to the car tank in a town.
When we travel on expressways, especially in summer, we normally do so for long-distance journeys. And if we are not used to driving on these highways, it will be more difficult, if possible, to know where the gas stations are located. That is, if they are next to the road or we have to detour a few kilometers to reach the refueling point.
The signs indicate the distance to the exit that we have to take. In principle, they do not provide clues to find out where the gas station that we have seen signposted is located. However, we can give you some keys that will serve as a guide so that next time you know if the service station is next to the highway or if, on the contrary, it will force you to take a short detour to reach it.
You have to be guided by the colors of the indicators. There are three colors, blue, green and white, and each of them has an explicit meaning, as we tell you below.
It indicates that we are traveling on a high-capacity road and the gas station will be on the side of the highway.
We will find the gas station on a lower category highway or expressway, but close to the highway.
To find the gas station we will have to travel a provincial, regional or local road that will force us to detour a few kilometers.
In addition to being guided by the colors of the panels, it is advisable to pay attention to another piece of information: the distance at which the exit is located. The meters indicated on the sign are another clue that you should not miss so as not to make a mistake.
If you find a sign indicating that the exit to a gas station is 1,000 meters away and later you see another one indicating that it is 500 meters away, it means that you can refuel at the foot of the highway. In fact, you will see the refueling establishment well in advance before taking the deceleration lane.
When you see these signs it means that the gas station is far from the highway. You will have to take a short detour along a minor road to get to the pump.
On the other hand, if you drive on a toll highway you will not have to pay attention to whether a gas station is next to the road or not because the regulations establish that service areas must be located in “adjacent areas” of the road. Likewise, it is established that the minimum distance between service areas is 20 kilometers and the maximum between 40 and 60 kilometers, although in exceptional cases an even greater distance may be justified, although this does not usually occur frequently.
On the other hand, if we do not want to be so aware of the color of the indicators and pay attention to the distances marked by the exits, it is better to schedule our trip in advance. We can use various mobile applications. From GPS navigators such as Google Maps, Waze or Sygic, for example, to specific applications that inform us about the location of gas stations and the price of fuel. GasAll, Gasoapp or Electromaps (for charging electric vehicles) are some of those applications.
