In addition to Via do Infante, in the Algarve, tolls will end on the following motorways in the country: A4 – Transmontana and Túnel do Marão; A13 and A13-1 – Pinhal Interior; A23 – Beira Interior; A24 – Interior North; A25 – Beiras Litoral and Alta; and A28 – North Coast, in the sections between Esposende and Antas, and between Neiva and Darque.
The PS bill to end tolls in the former SCUT was approved last May, in the Assembly of the Republic, and the law that eliminates them was published on August 7, in the Diário da República.
Tolls on the Via do Infante (A22) began to be charged on December 8, 2011. They remained, despite protests from users and businesspeople, for over 13 years and six governments (five years of PSD/CDS governments and eight years of PT governments), although, in recent times, there have been price reductions.
To mark the end of tolls on the A22, the Via do Infante Users Commission (CUVI) has already asked for a "loud honk", from all motorists on the first day of the year 2025, between 10am and 12pm and from 4pm to 6pm, at the entrances and exits of cities in the Algarve, at the access points to the A22 and along the entire road.
However, according to CUVI, “the fight is not over yet”. This is because, argues the Commission, “what is now necessary is the dismantling, without delay, of all the gantries along the road, to prevent the temptation of any government to want to impose tolls again – which the Algarve will never accept”.
Although their payment ends directly for those who travel on the ex-SCUT highways, the tolls end up continuing to be paid, indirectly, by all Portuguese, through their taxes.
According to the Público newspaper, the end of tolls increased costs with Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) by 1,106 million euros.
Público cites data from the analysis that the Technical Project Monitoring Unit (UTAP), supervised by the Ministry of Finance, carried out of the 2025 Budget.
Wonderful news. I have two cars, one for economical local travel and one for long-distance international use, but as a family in rural Algarve we use both. The big car had the transponder, which broke last spring and nobody wanted to know except to charge fine after fine. Now I can use my little car on the motorway, instead of the 125. The road between Portimao and west Lagos is horrendous.
By Vowles from Algarve on 01 Jan 2025, 06:38
The gantries won’t be removed because now they will check speeding by calculating time and distance from one gantry to the next. They will make more money from this than tolls.
By Peter from Algarve on 01 Jan 2025, 15:11