This time it’s the right one: this Thursday evening from midnight it will be possible to travel between Digoin (Saône-et-Loire) and Montmarault (Allier) via the A79, the first 2×2 lane toll motorway without toll booths in France. For two years, National Road 79 was under construction on the same section to convert this axis into freeway configuration. Traffic remained possible (and free), but not at 130 km / h and at the expense of many works.
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How’s that a premiere?
The Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR) group has converted 88 km of the national RN79 – dangerous but free – into the A79 motorway – toll but without toll barrier -, the first free-flow motorway in France. Only the entry and exit toll booths of the A71, to which it connects to the west, remain in force. Before or after, thanks to portal bridges, users can drive up to 130 km/h without braking or stopping. You just have to remember to pay immediately or after the ride.
This type of ‘free-flow’ motorway, which has long existed abroad, will become widespread in the years to come, with the Normandy motorway being next on the list.
How do goals work?
Motorists can drive from one end to the other at the maximum permitted speed by passing through gates equipped with cameras and sensors that identify their vehicle. The six installed gantry cranes, of the same type as those created between 2014 and 2017 for the heavy truck green tax, have now been abandoned. They have three cameras per direction of travel monitoring all lanes – including the hard shoulder – so there’s no point in driving between lanes to avoid identification.
Finally, a camera installed at an angle at the end of the portal records the length of the vehicle and the number of axles. APRR also states that the gates do not monitor vehicle occupants or how motorists are driving, even if they are speeding. “What interests the dealer is the vehicle itself and its number plate,” specifies the group.
How is the payment?
Motorists have several options for paying for their journey: The simplest solution is to purchase a classic electronic vignette, regardless of the provider. You can also pay on the website or in the new Autobahn app, either by registering your license plate number and bank details once and for all, or by paying for each crossing. It is therefore recommended to provide your e-mail address prior to travel in order to receive the proof of payment by e-mail. Another option: you can pay by card or cash at 16 terminals set up in the service areas, “just like you pay for your parking space”.
What if we forget?
After his visit, “the customer has 72 hours to pay for his trip,” points out Pierre Méau, APRR Deputy Customer Director. Otherwise, a fine of 90 euros will be added, without payment within 60 days even 375 euros. Since the operator has access to European number plates, in the event of a payment problem, the vehicle owner is liable and not the driver. “There will be no fine for a first visit. But when it becomes regular, there is no longer any tolerance,” warns APRR.
What is the benefit of Free Flow?
In addition to saving time, this system avoids congestion at tollbooths, saves fuel and reduces CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. According to its designers, the company also saves “16 hectares of space” that would have been necessary for the various tolls.
While the RN79 was nicknamed the “Road of Death” because of the numerous fatal accidents, the conversion into a freeway allows for a safety gain at the same time. This was also the main goal of this upgrade to 2×2 lanes according to highway standards, which was declared a non-profit in 2017.
Many examples abroad
The system is widely used in many countries, between Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa, around Toronto in Canada, on the city highways of Santiago de Chile, in many American states, on the Autostrada pedemontana lombarda near Milan in Italy, on many roads in Norway, on half of the Portuguese motorways or even to Gothenburg or Stockholm in Sweden.
Will this model be extended to other routes?
La Sanef, based on his experiments in Lorraine, undertakes to convert the Normandy motorway to free traffic, on which 32,000 cars pass every day. “There are five closures on the A13 and A14 between Paris and Caen with fairly heavy home-based traffic and significant weekend peaks. At each tollbooth it is a stop with potential congestion,” explains its general manager Arnaud Quemard. These barriers will be gradually replaced by gates between mid-2024 and mid-2025.
The equivalent of 40 football fields or 28 hectares corresponding to the toll booths will be returned to nature. However, the group assures that this will not save money: “Today we have around 150 employees at the toll station in Normandy. To operate the same free-flow highway, we need about 300,” he says, who will primarily be responsible for customer relations.