The Connexion reports on the increase in the number of French motorways that are eliminating tollbooths and transitioning to all-electronic, open-road (or “multi-lane free flow”) tolling. Sanef (an Abertis subsidiary) is engaged in the largest conversion project on the A13/14 Paris-to-Normandy highway. The company has “replaced over half of the tollbooths . . . with free-flowing digital equivalents. The remaining changes will be made at night to avoid disrupting traffic. Sanef stresses that drivers do not need to change their payment habits for the time being.” (The Connexion provided more details about Sanef’s project in April.) This article includes a list of five other motorways that have already converted to open-road tolling or are in the process of conversion. It also looks at rate-setting, payment methods, and how Sanef means to process toll transactions involving vehicles registered outside France.
A separate article from The Connexion reports that a five-kilometer segment of the A13 is scheduled to reopen fully over the next several days, avoiding potential traffic problems around the start of the opening of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The highway section has been closed since April 19, when cracks were discovered on a viaduct.