From 2024 it will no longer be necessary to stop at the toll on the A13 and A14 motorways connecting Paris to Normandy (or vice versa). The passage of motorists will be controlled by sensors placed on gantries. Objective: to make traffic more fluid and reduce pollution.
It’s the end of endless traffic jams at the toll plaza. The Sanef motorway company (Société des Autoroutes du Nord et de l’Est de la France) and the State have announced the establishment of the “free flow “ on the A13 and A14 motorways by 2024. Concretely, gantries will replace the current barriers. The goal is to reduce traffic jams and reduce CO emissions2 in the air.
![toll barrier Electronic toll](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/peage_13.jpg)
Commissioned in June 2024
If the principle of free flow tolls on motorways is widely used in Europe, it is in its infancy in France. Experienced on the A4 (Boulay-Varize) or on the A10 (Tours Nord) and the A37 (Tonnay Charente), it will for the first time see the light of day in France on a complete axis between Paris and the Normandy.
![route paris caen highway](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/trajet-paris-caen.jpg)
The 270,000 daily users of the Paris-Caen motorway section (210 km) will no longer have to endure the traffic jams caused by the five tolls. These will be replaced by gantries under which motorists will circulate without stopping. However, this does not mean that the motorway will become free!
The installations will pick up the signal from the Electronic Toll badges for subscribers or read the license plates for non-subscribers. They will have to register on the Internet, by phone or pay directly for their trip. via terminals installed on and off the network. They will pay for their trip in full. To avoid fraud, be aware that the gantry sensors are able to recognize the category of your vehicle by calculating the volume, profile and number of axles of your vehicle.
![gantry toll freeway free flow](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/portique.jpg)
The start of work will begin in 2022 according to Sapn (Société des autoroutes Paris-Normandie), which is owned by Sanef. The first commissioning will be effective in June 2024. Completion of the works is scheduled for 2027. According to the Official newspaper, the cost of the operation amounts to 122.1 million euros. Other free-flow motorways will emerge in France in the years to come, such as the A69 between Toulouse and Castres.
TO READ. Tolls. A tariff increase of 2% on average for 2022.
An ecological issue
![highway. fluid traffic. drone](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/autoroute-a13.jpg)
![Toll. drone. nature](https://www.largus.fr/images/images/peage-a14.jpg)
These barrier-free tolls are installed in order to reduce the fuel consumption of vehicles and their CO emissions.2. Arnaud Quemard, director of the Sanef group, talks about 9.5 million liters saved each year – equivalent to the annual consumption of 11,000 cars – and 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions less into the atmosphere, or 30,000 Paris-New York return flights. Furthermore, the footprint of these devices is smaller. ” These spaces reclaimed by the destruction of barriers – approximately 28 hectares – will be returned to nature », Specifies Sanef.