TRANSPORT – If you are stuck in the toll caps on the road to Normandy this Thursday, May 26, in order to take advantage of the Ascension weekend, you can console yourself by imagining that these tolls will soon disappear. The Société des Autoroutes du Nord et de l’Est de la France provides that the barriers on the A13 motorway between Paris and Caen will be removed from 2024.

The Parisian devote this Thursday a file on the subject, after the first announcements last december. In a video, Sanef presents its “free flow highway” project over the 210 kilometers between the capital and Caen. “No more toll gates, vehicles circulate without stopping or slowing down, their passage is detected automatically”, is it specified in the clip.

“The free flow (…) will be a source of time savings (especially during weekends and days of major departures), fuel savings and reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere”, adds the Sanef in a press release. This project is part of the orientation law on mobility (LOM), which provides for the generalization of free-flow motorways.

120,000 vehicles per day

According to Parisian, up to 120,000 vehicles use the Normandy motorway every day. According to the director of Sanef Arnaud Quemard interviewed by the daily, “we will save a total of 1.8 million hours per year for our users with the removal of traffic jams”. These optimistic hopes could also improve the carbon footprint of highways, because according to him, 9.5 million liters of fuel could be saved.

End of the barriers does not mean but free of the A13. Three means of payment will be available: the electronic toll subscription badge with which the amount will be deducted directly, registration of the license plate with Sanef to be identified and automatically debited, or payment on the dealer’s site or in a tobacco shop no later than 48 hours after the trip.

And it is better to avoid fraud, the amount of an unpaid fine after two months is 375 euros. It can go up to 7500 euros in the event of recidivism and non-payment over a year. Here again, it is the LOM law which has increased the tariffs in order to facilitate the removal of barriers and to deter those who do not want to pay.

The work on the motorway between Paris and Caen was to last until 2027 and cost 127 million euros. This also means a price increase of 0.22% every year until 2024.

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