There will be no toll barrier on the 53 kilometers of the future Toulouse- Castres. But don’t get carried away, that doesn’t mean it will be free. During a steering committee of the project of the A69 this Monday at the regional prefecture, the concessionaire Atosca, has indeed revealed that it will be a “free flow” infrastructure. Instead of building toll stations, which consume land, he chose to place four automatic gates along the route. They will register either the badges of the subscribers, or the plates of the cars for a dematerialized payment.
And now the official prices are known: announced at 7 euros, the price of a single trip at full price will be 6.77 euros for a thermal car, 5.42 euros for an electric car. The device will be decreasing: for a “commuter” who will take the route in both directions every working day of the month, it will fall to 4.06 euros in an ordinary vehicle and 2.71 euros in an eco-friendly vehicle. A budget to which must be added the toll of 1.60 euros for the existing portion between Verfeil and the Toulouse ring road. “It’s the right price, depending on the time saved”, assures Martial Gerlinger, CEO of Atosca A69. This gain is estimated at “25 minutes during off-peak hours and 35 minutes during peak hours”.
8,400 cars per day
Daily traffic on the A69 is estimated at 8,400 cars and 800 heavy goods vehicles – “which will pay about three times as much”. The start of work is scheduled for early 2023 for commissioning at the end of 2025.
Castres is the only large conurbation in Occitanie not to be linked to the regional capital by the motorway. This “opening up” project dates back 25 years and has the support of all local authorities. But it comes up against the very imaginative hostility of farmers (a hundred of them are affected) and local residents. Opponents have already obtained the abolition of quarry projects to supply the site.