Existing for a long time abroad, this type of "free flow" motorway is set to become widespread in the coming years, the Normandy motorway being the next on the list.
Users will be able to travel at the authorized speed, without slowing down or stopping, passing under gates equipped with cameras and sensors that will identify their vehicle.
They will then have several ways to pay, explains Pierre Méau, deputy customer director of Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR), the group which transformed 88 km of national N79 - dangerous, but free - into the A79 motorway - paying - between Montmarault (Allier) and Digoin (Saone-et-Loire).
The simplest solution is to obtain a classic electronic toll badge, regardless of the supplier.
You can also pay on the site of the new motorway, either by registering your registration number and bank details once and for all, or by paying for each passage.
Last possibility: 16 terminals along the highway, which will allow you to pay by card or cash.
"The customer has 72 hours to pay for his journey", underlines Mr. Méau. Otherwise a fine of 90 euros will be added to the amount of the toll, and even 375 euros without payment within 60 days. The operator will have access to the file of European license plates.
Going hand in hand with the development of digital and online payments, the adoption of free flow was requested by the State when it selected APRR (a subsidiary of Eiffage) to build the A79.
All new motorways will follow this model like the future A69 between Toulouse and Castres, notes the manager.
More employees
The system is quite widespread in many countries, between Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa, around Toronto in Canada, on the urban 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 enter Gothenburg or Stockholm in Sweden.
In France, the Société des Autoroutes du Nord et de l'Est de la France (Sanef) transformed the Boulay-Moselle interchange on the A4 motorway into a laboratory, removing the physical barriers there in 2019.
Despite a few incidents at the start, "the system has demonstrated its reliability and customers have become familiar with this new payment system", assures its general manager Arnaud Quemard.
Sanef has therefore undertaken to convert the Normandy motorway, which sees 32.000 cars a day, to free flow.
“On the A13 and the A14 between Paris and Caen, there are five barriers, with fairly strong commuting traffic and significant weekend peaks. At each toll barrier, there is a stop with potentially corks", explains Mr. Quemard.
These barriers will be gradually replaced by gates between mid-2024 and mid-2025. "The objective is to straighten the highway", by returning to nature 28 hectares - the equivalent of 40 football fields - currently occupied by toll stations, he specifies.
Arnaud Quemard promises time savings, fuel savings and reductions in CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
The investment is valued at around 120 million euros, partly covered by a modest annual increase in tolls. But contrary to what one might think, switching to free flow does not save money.
"Today, on the toll in Normandy, we have around 150 employees. To operate the same free-flow motorway, we will need around 300", who will mainly deal with customer relations, says Ms. Quemard.
"We have a huge stake in retraining our staff, and we have guaranteed all our toll employees that we will find suitable employment for them", he underlines.
Among the next motorways to switch to free flow, the Autoroute blanche (A40) in Haute-Savoie, which the company Autoroutes et tunnel du Mont-Blanc (ATMB) intends to convert "in the medium term", citing the quality of the road as the reason. air in the Arve valley.