Alex Trelinski
TOWN halls are repeating their demand to scrap toll charges on the AP-7 motorway in the southern Costa Blanca to help ease bottlenecks on the N-332 coast road.
The fresh call came at a meeting in Torrevieja this week between local leaders and Valencia´s Public Works minister, Arcadi España.
Toll payments were abolished on the AP-7 north of Alicante city at the start of the year, but motorists still have to cough up in the Vega Baja region at Los Montesinos and La Zenia.
That’s down to the southern section of the motorway being run by a different franchise holder, Ausur, and their 50-year contract finishes in 2048.
Aracdi España told mayors: ”This is a complex matter due to the contract length and would be very expensive to sort out.”
Orihuela mayor, Emilio Bascuñana, reiterated his previous idea of charging lower tolls for local residents and that suggestion has been passed on to authorities in Madrid.
Figures show that only 7,000 drivers use the AP-7 stretch between Los Montesinos and La Zenia per day in the summer, in stark contrast to the 50,000 users on the N-332 in the Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa areas.
