Pressure mounts for a toll free AP-7
Councillor outlines the benefits for businesses and private motorists
Regional government asks to end motorway charges
THE REGIONAL government has asked for a meeting with the national transport chief to ensure that the AP-7 motorway is toll free when the concession ends at the end of 2019.
Councillor for public works, María José Salvador said Valencia ‘is not contemplating any scenario which is not free access to the motorway’.
Drivers currently have to pay expensive tolls to use the motorway between Villajoyosa and Valencia – and on the stretch to the north of the city – forcing many vehicles off the trans-Mediterranean highway and onto the log-jammed N-332 road.
Sra Salvador said minister for public works, José Luis Ábalos – who hails from Valencia – will ‘listen to what we are saying because it is an initiative that has widespread support in the region’.
The councillor noted that repeated extensions of the con- cession for tolls on the motorway resulted in discrimination against the region compared with others areas of the country.
“We have a motorway which has continued to be operated with a toll while the N-340 and N-332 are seriously congested and have safety problems,” she said.
“From the end of 2019 it is necessary that all the sections of the AP-7 between Tarragona and Alicante should be free.”
Sra Salvador said this would lead to significantly reduced transport costs for ‘our companies and for private motorists’.
At the same meeting, Sra Salvador explained that she will discuss the plan for shortdistance rail services.
She assured that Sr Ábalos is moving to ensure that the region will have a renovated and efficient railway, with more frequent services.