Starting tomorrow, seven motorways in the country will be free. But the imperative is to remove the porticos. If you don’t pay, what are you left doing there?
From January 1st, you will no longer pay to drive on 7 ex-Scut highways. It is the result of a struggle that has been going on for 13 years, recalls .
They are: A13 and A13-1 (Pinhal Interior), A22 (Algarve), A25 (Beiras Litoral and Alta), A23 (Beira Interior), A4 (Transmontana and Túnel do Marão) A24 (Interior Norte) and A28 (between Esposende -Antas and between Neiva-Darque).
However, there are some who are not satisfied, and their users fear that the gantries that remain constitute a threat: they don’t pay, but one day they may pay again.
The Via do Infante Users Commission (CUVI) – A22, clarifies that “the fight is not over yet. Now, what is required is the disassemblywithout delay, from all the porticos along the road, to prevent the temptation of any Government wanting to impose tolls againwhich the Algarve will never accept and will fight without truce”.
The Public Services User Committees of the Médio Tejo Region also defend the idea. spokesperson, Manuel Soares, says there is “need to remove the porticosbecause there is a fear that, with a new situation, tolls will return. Since they were implemented, maintained and abolished in a strange way, let’s stay alert for what might happen.”
He also points out another aspect to be fulfilled: “It is necessary to improve safety on the roads and carry out maintenance of some secondary roadswhich have become very dilapidated due to excessive use, as drivers flee the toll plazas”.
But there are those, like Luis Garraspokesperson for the Platform for the Replacement of SCUTS on the A23 and A25, devalues the issue of gantries at this time. The representative says that he does not want to “make this a flag”, since “at this moment, it seems to us that is to divert attention. We do not disregard this requirement, but what matters now is focus the speech on victory to finish paying tolls”, he says.
But it does not exclude the idea of going back to square one: “the Democratic Alliance is against the abolition of tolls and we are not free from a change in forces in the Assembly of the Republic will translate into an intention to pay tolls again”.
Infraestruturas de Portugal predicted that, with the end of tolls, it will be lost R$431.35 million per year. Both this and other private concessionaires should be able to request compensation from the State for loss of revenue.
