First motorway to scrap the tolls sees 58% traffic volume hike
Wednesday, January 30, 2019 @ 1:57 PM
TRAFFIC on the AP-1 motorway has rocketed by 58% since the government scrapped the tolls on December 1, giving an idea of what is yet to come when the next batch of pay-per-use highway franchises come up for renewal.
Public works minister José Luis Ábalos opted to continue with the previous government's plans not to renew any of the toll contracts on Spain's motorways once they expired, and a sub-commission in Parliament has been set up to work out how they will fund their maintenance in future.
The AP-1 was the first, and another nine followed a fortnight ago – the AP-7 between Cartagena (Murcia) and Vera (Almería) and the Alicante ringroad on the same motorway; the AP-36 between Ocaña (Toledo province) and La Roda (Albacete province); the AP-41 from Madrid to Toledo; the M-12 Madrid airport link road, and three Madrid outer-suburban 'radial' highways, the R-2, R-3, R-4 and R-5.
These nine, however, are only toll-free overnight from midnight to 06.00, but fees for their use during the day have been slashed by 30% to encourage users.
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