The Algarve’s anti-toll campaigning group CUVI said today that it is essential now to end the ruinous toll system on the Algarve’s Via do Infante, adding that the tolled road has turned the so called alternative route, the EN125, into a battleground with in excess of 20 accidents a day.
CUVI has issued a list of forthcoming actions to highlight the tolls situation at a time when “with the arrival of summer the Algarve’s traffic volume has increased on the chaotic and very dangerous EN125.
“Many drivers avoid tolls on the Via do Infante motorway and venture onto the EN125 ‘urban street’ where there are more than 20 accidents per day. This a real state of war in the region. It is true that many accidents are due to the lack of civility of drivers, however the tolls on the A22, the poor state of the EN125, the lack of road repairs and the inadequacy of many sections to take the volume all contribute dramatically to the increase in accidents in the Algarve.
“In the last 48 hours two horrific accidents on the EN125 have claimed the lives of three people and caused many serious injuries."
CUVI demand that those responsible for the introduction of tolls – the PSD/CDS coalition government with the support of the Socialist Party – must stop, think and take measures for the immediate abolition of tolls.
The socialist leader and the prime minster have made election promises that the toll rates will be reduced should they be prime minister after the autumn election, but this does not impress CUVI at all.
"As far as pledges from António Costa and Passos Coelho, this is just another pre-election promise, lowering the cost of the tolls will not solve the fundamental problems.”
CUVI admits that recently the government approved the amendment to the Public-Private Partnership contract for the Via do Infante, saying it allowed the state a savings of tens of millions of euros.
However, the anti-toll movement says that in this renegotiation the government simply reduced the amount of money to be spent on maintenance and achieved no reduction in the high interest rates with which the taxpayer is being stiffed.
