[Article] €500m bridge buyout to ease gridlock on the M50

RuggieBear

From the Indo

Treacy Hogan

Environment

Correspondent

TAXPAYERS are to pay up to €500m to bring down down toll barriers at the most gridlocked spot in the country.

The State is to buy out the private Westlink toll bridge on the M50 12 years before the company which runs it was due to hand it back.

The toll barriers will be removed from the bridge with the aim of ending gridlock there.

But the Irish Independent has learned that motorists will face more than three replacement State electronic tolls situated at regular intervals along the motorway.

These are being erected to bankroll the massive compensation it has to pay to the toll company, anywhere up to €40m a year for 12 years.

The AA last night branded the move as "absolute madness".

"They are replacing one rip-off toll with others along the full length of the M50," said its spokesman Conor Faughnan.

He predicted that up to 20,000 cars and lorries would divert to other roads to avoid the new State tolls.

"This is an own goal of spectacular proportions. Clearly they were badly avised. It will make a bad situation even worse," he claimed.

But Transport Minister Martin Cullen insisted last night: "The time has come for a decision. The Westlink as a service does not deliver for users. We now have a positive outcome with certainty on timing, certainty that the bottleneck that is the Westlink plaza will go and certainty on a move to barrier free tolling."

Leftover toll cash will be used to pay for the M50 upgrade with extra lanes and spaghetti junctions.

The dramatic move follows a breakdown in talks between Westlink operators National Toll Roads and the State-run National Roads Authority (NRA).

The company wanted to erect electronic tolls at their toll plaza on the bridge with the cost bankrolled by the NRA.

This was rejected out of hand and all talks broke down this week.

"Their offer was unacceptable," a source close to the talks said.

"It was like they wanted the State to pay for a new petrol station and they would get the profits from selling the petrol. This was just not acceptable."

Instead the NRA is to set a "zero toll" at the Westlink plaza, making the facility completely redundant.

The private company will be compensated every year up to 2020 when their concession was due to expire.

From the proceeds of the tolls, the State is expected to pay National Toll Roads up to €40m a year for 12 years between 2006 and 2020.

The compensation will increase each year and the amount will be index-linked to inflation.

The State will keep any extra revenue generated.

A clause in the controversial 1987 deal states that compensation based on the yearly revenue must be paid to NTR if the State scraps tolls at the Westlink.

Meanwhile, electronic overhead gantries are to be installed at stretches along the M50.

Motorists will be hit by up to three new tolls as they drive along the motorway. Their registrations will be photographed and bills sent to their homes.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was informed of the development by Mr Cullen.

The toll plaza on the Westlink bridge has been blamed for much of the gridlock as vehicles are funnelled into the booths.

Interchange

The first stretch of the M50 to be electronically tolled will be from the Red Cow interchange at the Naas Road to the N4 Galway road interchange at Lucan.

Work on adding new lanes and building spaghetti-junction style interchanges gets underway on Monday.

In a statement last night, the National Roads Authority said it was decided, with agreement from Mr Cullen, "to terminate discussions with NTR regarding Westlink".

"In order to relieve traffic congestion and improve traffic flows on the M50 motorway the NRA is upgrading the interchanges and adding additional lanes on the M50.

"In addition the NRA is proposing the removal of the booth by 2008 at the Westlink toll facility, thereby removing the tunnel effect (on traffic)."

"To manage further traffic volumes and to ensure improved traffic flows the NRA will create a barrier free tolling system throughout the M50.

"Barrier free tolling will start upon completion of phase on upgrade of the M50 between the N4 and the N7."

A bit mad really. Remove the bloody west link toll but then introduce electronic tolls that'll make people rat run instead. The M50 is not there to make money it is there to allow people to avoid the city if they are travelling elsewhere...thus improving traffic everywhere.

What's the point of tolling people on the M50?

netman

Motorists will be hit by up to three new tolls as they drive along the motorway. Their registrations will be photographed and bills sent to their homes.

Hehe, just throw some mud on your license plate before you go on the M50 and you'll be allright!

I've seen cars driving around town like that, the whole car covered in muck, just the windows washed spotlessly. You need an x-ray to read the license plate

WizZard

Just heard this on the radio - it's a bit mad.

Maskhadov

if it makes financial sense then I think the government should press ahead in line and introduce electronic tolling. I wouldnt really mind paying the toll if it meant there were no traffic jams around the toll plaza

murphaph

I don't use the M50 daily but I imagine it'll be fairer to charge 1/3 the price of the current toll at 3 individual locations on the northern cross, western parkway and south eastern motorway than nail everyone who has to get from J6 to J7, a very short distance for the money!

People reckon it'll drive cars onto side roads-maybe, maybe not. It'll certainly attract cars from Lucan and Chapelizod bridges up onto the westlink if the price there drops to 60c, so it just might work. Overall a fairer system but of course we'd all like toll free roads. I'm just glad that NTR have been told to fcuk off at last. They won't get nearly as much from this as they would have goit if they'd kept the full 1.80 toll plaza running for another 16 years (even though the govt. gets the tolls after 90k cars have passed over the thing in a day).

RuggieBear

wait and see tho...it'll probably be 3 €1.80 tolls:D :rolleyes:

murphaph

RuggieBear wrote:

wait and see tho...it'll probably be 3 €1.80 tolls:D :rolleyes:

Probably! but in a fair a nd just world (:D ) it'd be less than 1/3 the price as there will be few overheads (staff, heat and light, Securicor vans carting all the loot away to AIB etc.....)

evilhomer

murphaph wrote:

Securicor vans carting all the loot away to AIB etc.

They will instead be hired to pull over everyone with mucky license plates

I will hold off passing judgement until I see how much the new tolls will be.

corktina

Maskhadov wrote:

if it makes financial sense then I think the government should press ahead in line and introduce electronic tolling. I wouldnt really mind paying the toll if it meant there were no traffic jams around the toll plaza

i totally agree and the electronic equipment could help detect people with no tax too possibly....

Victor

I woke to this on the radio this morning and assummed I was either still dreaming or it was 1st April.

"In addition the NRA is proposing the removal of the booth by 2008 at the Westlink toll facility, thereby removing the tunnel effect (on traffic)."

**Funnel** effect!

Bill McH

Given the amount of money which the complete M50 was always going to cost the taxpayer, it always seemed strange that whichever government it was would not fork out the relatively small amount of money required to build the bridge. Anybody who got the franchise to build and toll the bridge was always going to have loads of people by the b**lls, given how time-consuming an alternative route around the toll would be. Whichever government was in charge should have decided to build the bridge and either not toll it or toll it themselves, thus keeping all the money for the state.

How difficult can it be to toll a bridge when there's no realistic alternative?

The whole Carrickmines thing illustrated how poor this decision was. Now I don't know the rights and wrongs of the delays up at Carrickmines, but I believe the delays cost the state upwards of £100,000 per week (compensation for companies who had hired equipment, etc). All of this was funded by the taxpayer, not a cent was paid for by NTR. Even though the only people who stood to gain financially by completing the road were NTR!

And this is leaving aside the huge cost of purchasing some of the most expensive land in the country, all for the purposes of completing the M50, when the only people who could make money out of the completed road were NTR. How much of that money did NTR contribute? Not a bean.

Now we'll be paying about 500 million euro over the next 12 years to this company. On top of all the money they've already made out on two bridges which cost, what, 50 million euro in total? That's good business for NTR.

darkman2

RuggieBear wrote:

From the Indo


A bit mad really. Remove the bloody west link toll but then introduce electronic tolls that'll make people rat run instead. The M50 is not there to make money it is there to allow people to avoid the city if they are travelling elsewhere...thus improving traffic everywhere.

What's the point of tolling people on the M50?

Whats he talking about : 3 tolls. THE TAX PAYERS HAVE PAID FOR THIS ROAD! Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I hope ppl are annoyed as I am at this:mad:

peckerhead

Conor Faughnan has it right in one: "This is an own goal of spectacular proportions." :mad:

darkman2

peckerhead wrote:

Conor Faughnan has it right in one: "This is an own goal of spectacular proportions." :mad:

Dont get me wrong, im glad were rid of NTR but now were having a double tax put on us, for what?! Sly, very sly.:mad:

BrianD

I can see it now - each time you pass under a toll gantry, toll is deducted from your account and then tax, NCt and insurance details checked. Anything out of order is flagged and a fine/points issued in the post!

I notice that reports seem to indicate that the entire M50 will be tolled ( a gantry on all slip roads?) so there's going to be mant more people paying tolls than previously.

corktina

darkman2 wrote:

Whats he talking about : 3 tolls. THE TAX PAYERS HAVE PAID FOR THIS ROAD! Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I hope ppl are annoyed as I am at this:mad:

but whats the alternative? 12 years more gridlock? better to bite the bullet now I think

darkman2

corktina wrote:

but whats the alternative? 12 years more gridlock? better to bite the bullet now I think

The alternative is simply upgrade the road and have no tolls whatsoever. The country is awash with money and there is no need to toll this road IMO

murphaph

darkman2 wrote:

The alternative is simply upgrade the road and have no tolls whatsoever. The country is awash with money and there is no need to toll this road IMO

The country may be awash with money but I'd rather a fair toll on the entire M50 and a free universal health service than a free road tbh. There a re plenty of areas that money can be spent. If the general taxpayer is to pay for the M50 deal to be bought out then other services will suffer. I'm all for government road tolling. The Westlink is a rip off but a 60c toll (yeah I know-we'll wait and see) for travelling between 2 junctions or 1.80 for travelling the entire length of the M50 is much fairer than just the poor sods who have to travel over the Liffey paying for it all. The westlink deal was flawed from the start but now that NTR have to be paid off, we shouldn't put the burden onto the general taxpayer (many of whom don't even drive).

Ernest

There seemed to be some talk in this morning's papers of compensating bridge bandits NTR for the lost revenue they will forego if they are kicked off their ambush point. This sounds wrong in principle. To set up an infrastructure to delay and get money off motorists there are costs such as staff wages, heating and lighting, security fees etc that would be saved if these bandits are banished - even bank robbers have costs that have to be offset against their loot. It follows that there should be no question of compensation based on gross "revenue foregone" - only perhaps based on net profits.
I would like some journalist to revisit the original decision to use EU money to build a ring road around Dublin but not to close the loop to make the ring road complete - instead leaving this certain money machine to a private operator to milk the helpless motorist for years. At least, let us have the names of the ministers for Tranport or of Environment or Local Governement who foisted this or did not prevent it being foisted on Irish motorists. After all there are elections coming up sometime in the future and we might like to remember our enemies at such times.
I agree with darkman2 - there is no need for any tolls on the M50. All tolls are expensive to operate and high proportion of money expropriated from motorists is lost in its collection. In addition road tolls cause delay, frustration and stress to all motorists as they have to go through the milking parlour - not to mention the increased costs to everyone directly and indirectly.

ishmael whale

For fear of allegations of feathering my own nest, I don’t use the M50 and use public transport to commute – but then again, I have a public transport alternative unlike many using the M50 on a daily basis.

The toll plaza on the Westlink bridge, and more importantly the contractual arrangement behind it with NTR, were cock-ups of monumental proportion. The extent of public denial of this has been enormous. At least this proposal should bring to an end any attempt by officialdom to try and pretend the arrangement was in any way sensible.

There’s nothing wrong with tolling in principle. But raising infrastructural finance by inviting in a private concern to build and collect a toll is a horrendously expensive way of doing it. That €500 million that will be given to NTR could have been public funds, spent for some public good. That’s the really important lesson of the Westlink. And remember, toll plaza or no toll plaza, electronic tolling or no electronic tolling, one way or the other the public will have to pay that €500 million. Its only a question of where the cost should fall – on the mugs who have to use it every day, on the general motoring public or the general taxpayer. I don’t hold the people who have to use it as responsible for the cock up of the business arrangement, so I’m happy enough at the taxpayer picking up the bill. At least this removes the additional and avoidable cost of the congestion caused on the M50 by the existing toll plaza.

As to road tolling in principle, I really don’t see why we don’t take a pragmatic response and start putting a high levy on fuel. For starters, we know our dependence on oil imports is a strategic problem so we should be taking measures to ensure the price of fuel reflects its social costs. This could also provide a revenue stream for roads and/or public transport.

bazzer

BrianD wrote:

I can see it now - each time you pass under a toll gantry, toll is deducted from your account and then tax, NCt and insurance details checked. Anything out of order is flagged and a fine/points issued in the post!

I notice that reports seem to indicate that the entire M50 will be tolled ( a gantry on all slip roads?) so there's going to be mant more people paying tolls than previously.

So where does the bill go to for knackers, Nordies and other unregistered drivers, most of whom pay absolutely no attention to our Rules of the Road as they stand now?

darkman2

murphaph wrote:

The country may be awash with money but I'd rather a fair toll on the entire M50 and a free universal health service than a free road tbh. There a re plenty of areas that money can be spent. If the general taxpayer is to pay for the M50 deal to be bought out then other services will suffer. I'm all for government road tolling. The Westlink is a rip off but a 60c toll (yeah I know-we'll wait and see) for travelling between 2 junctions or 1.80 for travelling the entire length of the M50 is much fairer than just the poor sods who have to travel over the Liffey paying for it all. The westlink deal was flawed from the start but now that NTR have to be paid off, we shouldn't put the burden onto the general taxpayer (many of whom don't even drive).

Thats a good point well made, I suppose 1.80 for the whole road is a good deal considering the upgrade will be a complete overhaul making the journey easier. And considering the freeflow changes traffic jams should be less common at interchanges, although ive seen for myself in LA that even freeflow sometimes clogs, so we will have to wait and see if its a good deal or not:)

Metrobest

I think it's a good idea to toll the entire M50 barrier-free. The Westlink's main problem is an inadequate amount of toll booths forcing cars to queue. People assume that if the barries were removed there would be no traffic jams. However it's the badly-designed junctions and inadequate lane capacity that cause sections of the M50 to be congested. This will continue to be the case until the upgrade is completed.

Barrier-free tolling destroys the argument that toll cause queues. I'd now like to see a toll of €1.00 charged to all cars on motorways coming into Dublin where they intersect with the M50, regardless of whether or not the driver wishes to use the M50. It's not sustainable to provide a free ring road around and several motorways leading into a capital city which does not and cannot have the road infrastructure to cope; no matter how many lanes you have it will be congested. Tolls regulate demand and we need more of them.

Capt'n Midnight

And all because they couldn't find another 10% more funding back when it was built.

Be interesting to see how the traffic moves when/if the toll plaza removed - was the second bridge necessary ??

darkman2

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

And all because they couldn't find another 10% more funding back when it was built.

Be interesting to see how the traffic moves when/if the toll plaza removed - was the second bridge necessary ??

The bridge would have been needed for the upgrade anyway:rolleyes:

lostexpectation

Victor wrote:

I woke to this on the radio this morning and assummed I was either still dreaming or it was 1st April.

**Funnel** effect!

I bet the NRA have a running policy not to use the word bottleneck.:)

corktina

just a thought...if they can instal three barrier free electronic tolls elsewhere on the m50, why could they not install just one at the west link and get rid of the physical barriers, and continue as now with NTR? saving the €500 million cost to the tax payer.....and the cost of two ofthe electronic tolls.....

murphaph

corktina wrote:

just a thought...if they can instal three barrier free electronic tolls elsewhere on the m50, why could they not install just one at the west link and get rid of the physical barriers, and continue as now with NTR? saving the €500 million cost to the tax payer.....and the cost of two ofthe electronic tolls.....

I think the government want to be see to be fair to all M50 users and currently that's not the case as users of the short stretch between J6 and J7 are paying €1.80 for the privilege while users of all other sections pay no toll, though may well get caught in the snarl ups! I reckon paying per number of junctions used is alot fairer than one toll collection point which only tolls people who happen to need that stretch between those two junctions. The electronic tolling gantries will be the least expensive aspect of this system and other places that use barrier-less tolling seem to use the same multiple toll point system with pay per use charging. In my view, any move which will encorage more vehicles out of Lucan up onto a bridge actually designed to take the volumes is a good thing. I'd often skip the toll by heading through Lucan and I'd propbably be happy to pay 50 or 60c and use the west link.

ishmael whale

darkman2 wrote:

The bridge would have been needed for the upgrade anyway:rolleyes:

In fairness, I think the point was that building extra lanes now was really just part of the attempt to deny the toll plaza was the problem. You know that standard kind of spin that tries to cloak a problem with pure bull 'the bridge is such a tremendous success that we need an extra lane to cope with the traffic.'

evilhomer

Metrobest wrote:

I'd now like to see a toll of €1.00 charged to all cars on motorways coming into Dublin where they intersect with the M50, regardless of whether or not the driver wishes to use the M50.

So what you are saying is that I should have to pay to come into dublin?
Or start doing rat runs to avoid the tolls?
Do you not think life is hard enough for people who have to commute from outside dublin without you suggesting another toll for them?

If we had a good public transport network then yes, maybe, but we don't, so it's a pointless exercise.

Capt'n Midnight

darkman2 wrote:

The bridge would have been needed for the upgrade anyway:rolleyes:

No need to have built the second bridge till then, at present the extra lane on the northbound bridge just acts as place to hold slow moving traffic for most of it users. I'd reckon that a speed limit of 40mph on a single free flowing bridge would carry more traffic than both do at present.

Victor

For those who thing the toll plaza is the cause of all evil. How come I've seen northbound queues at Finglas? While we might have survived without the second bridge, this would have meant no hard shoulders, shorter merging lanes and at peak times, traffic queueing on the N4 interchange.

bazzer wrote:

So where does the bill go to for knackers, Nordies and other unregistered drivers, most of whom pay absolutely no attention to our Rules of the Road as they stand now?

Kindly take your bigotry elsewhere. Actually, how about not using it at all?

Vehicles which are habitually abusing the system could be stopped and / or seized.

bazzer

But why should they be allowed to get away with it? Is it any wonder most road users (myself included) hold these types in such low regard?
Bigotry or not, these people are giving two fingers to those of us who abide by the law.
My question still stands (and I think it's a fair one) - how are those who use vehicles not registered in this state going to be billed for using this proposed new tolling system?

Victor

bazzer wrote:

But why should they be allowed to get away with it? Is it any wonder most road users (myself included) hold these types in such low regard?
Bigotry or not, these people are giving two fingers to those of us who abide by the law.

Some of those people, yes. But look at say the "metallic silver" crowd treat other road users? Abuse isn't restricted to one group.

My question still stands (and I think it's a fair one) - how are those who use vehicles not registered in this state going to be billed for using this proposed new tolling system?

I presume there will still be a cash option. I presume other countries survive. And how far will you go to chase that €2 toll (presumably it would become a fine)?

ishmael whale

We should of course remember that, like the bulk of Transport 21, the actual delivery of the solution i.e. removal of the toll booth is not due until after the next election - so clearly the whole thing is ripe with potential to be a complete ball of smoke.

darkman2

ishmael whale wrote:

We should of course remember that, like the bulk of Transport 21, the actual delivery of the solution i.e. removal of the toll booth is not due until after the next election - so clearly the whole thing is ripe with potential to be a complete ball of smoke.

You may be right, but the upgrade begins tomorrow so I dont know about that. I must say timing is very coincidental or is it?!?

Note the DPT is also being delayed constantly for no apparent reason, coincidence?!?

corktina

Victor wrote:

For those who thing the toll plaza is the cause of all evil. How come I've seen northbound queues at Finglas? While we might have survived without the second bridge, this would have meant no hard shoulders, shorter merging lanes and at peak times, traffic queueing on the N4 interchange.

Kindly take your bigotry elsewhere. Actually, how about not using it at all?

Vehicles which are habitually abusing the system could be stopped and / or seized.

it seems to me if you have a state of the art system that can bill you for your tolls, then there should be no reason why this system can't be linked to a Garda enforcement vehicle who can organise interception of offenders with no tax. As for foreign registered cars, well, maybe we can just forego those toills and put it down to building goodwill with our neighbours.....i would think that this system wont be the first of its type in the world, maybe it would work in our favour in other states.....

murphaph

corktina wrote:

it seems to me if you have a state of the art system that can bill you for your tolls, then there should be no reason why this system can't be linked to a Garda enforcement vehicle who can organise interception of offenders with no tax. As for foreign registered cars, well, maybe we can just forego those toills and put it down to building goodwill with our neighbours.....i would think that this system wont be the first of its type in the world, maybe it would work in our favour in other states.....

I believe that NI and the RoI should have access to each other's vehicle databases so that NI vehicles can be expected to pay as they will be using our roads so regularly, similarly if they ever go the toll route (and they might have to!) we would be expected to pay up there. The other countries I think we'll just have to forego the tolls or introduce a vignette system for foreign registered vehicles. Of course, revenue.Gardai need to clamp down on those living and working in he state but with foreign registered vehicles in use on irish roads. That's a seperate matter and maybe this will be added incentive to do so.

darkman2

murphaph wrote:

I believe that NI and the RoI should have access to each other's vehicle databases so that NI vehicles can be expected to pay as they will be using our roads so regularly, similarly if they ever go the toll route (and they might have to!) we would be expected to pay up there. The other countries I think we'll just have to forego the tolls or introduce a vignette system for foreign registered vehicles. Of course, revenue.Gardai need to clamp down on those living and working in he state but with foreign registered vehicles in use on irish roads. That's a seperate matter and maybe this will be added incentive to do so.

Maybe there is EU wide legislation in place already????????

murphaph

darkman2 wrote:

Maybe there is EU wide legislation in place already????????

Legislation concerning what?

darkman2

murphaph wrote:

Legislation concerning what?

Electronic tolling legislation. Surely theyve got such tolling in place in some countries. Legislation would be required to make citizens of other EU countries to pay the tolls.

corktina

having access to each others data bases i imagine....

Victor

darkman2 wrote:

Maybe there is EU wide legislation in place already????????

Technical standards yes. Relating to toll operation and fines for evasion, I don't think so.

murphaph

We're an island with just 2 states who are capable of close cooperation, we can let the small percentage of continental drivers away with it (apart from HGVs!-it would be unfair on our own hauliers if they had to pay and companies based outside the state did not!) so long as the folks who choose to live here register their cars here too. It's not too much to ask.

corktina

customs only allow you to use a foreign registered car for 6 months i believe. after that it could be grabbed......there are also restrictions as to who can drive it etc....

evilhomer

corktina wrote:

customs only allow you to use a foreign registered car for 6 months i believe. after that it could be grabbed......there are also restrictions as to who can drive it etc....

Actually if you are an Irish Citizen you must pay the VRT(Vehicle Registration Tax) the day you bring the car into the country.

As regards to foreign nationals I believe their is some loophole in the law that allows them to drive the car here without having to register it.

Metrobest

evilhomer wrote:

So what you are saying is that I should have to pay to come into dublin?
Or start doing rat runs to avoid the tolls?
Do you not think life is hard enough for people who have to commute from outside dublin without you suggesting another toll for them?

If we had a good public transport network then yes, maybe, but we don't, so it's a pointless exercise.

What I'm saying is, it's not sustainable to allow people from outside the M50 cordon travel into central Dublin by car for free.

A toll of €1.00 on the M1, M2, M3, M4, M7, M11 at the point of intersection with the M50 would have a positive effect on traffic volumes entering the Dublin city area. The proceeds from these tolls could raise upwards of €1bn annually, which could pay for more metro lines in the Dublin area, and properly-planned development, meaning that people like you would be able to live in the Dublin area and experience a higher quality of life.

lomb

tis all lunacy, i never thought id say this but lets keep the westlink toll! is also political suicide. it will probably cost 6-10 euros to go from swords to sandyford:mad:

A Dub in Glasgo

evilhomer wrote:

Actually if you are an Irish Citizen you must pay the VRT(Vehicle Registration Tax) the day you bring the car into the country.

Irish resident only. If you are an Irish citizen moving to Ireland permanently or temporaryly (don't know what the definition is of a temporary resident is) and you own a vehicle for a minimum of 6 months in another country, you can import the car without paying VRT. It still needs to be registered though but you have no VRT to pay

As regards to foreign nationals I believe their is some loophole in the law that allows them to drive the car here without having to register it.

Temporary visitors into Ireland do not need to register their car or pay VRT. If a foreign national is moving permanently (or a temporary resident) into Ireland, the same rule above applies.


http://oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/importing_car_into_ireland.html

D'Peoples Voice

murphaph wrote:

I think the government want to be see to be fair to all M50 users and currently that's not the case as users of the short stretch between J6 and J7 are paying €1.80 for the privilege while users of all other sections pay no toll, though may well get caught in the snarl ups! I reckon paying per number of junctions used is alot fairer than one toll collection point which only tolls people who happen to need that stretch between those two junctions.

I completely agree, I've been saying this for years. A similar system has been in use on motorways in New Jersey since the last century. Pay for what you use! If the Americans have the technology, then it should be relatively simple for us to duplicate.
I'm just a bit confused why something similar was not suggested for the M4!

This method shuts up that scum who say they are against toll roads because it causes delays.How many of those people have you head that toll roads are crap becuse they cause delays on the M50. Now that we are moving to open road/electronic tolling, I guarantee they will still complain! gimps!

darkman2

Apparently their giving out more details at 2:00 on the upgrade and the tolling. One question, who is going to pay the price tag that will inevitably surpass 1 billion euro???????