The French government is determined to cut motorway tolls and cap excessive profits but the road operators will not give up without a fight.

Also, a road in the very north of Norway wins ‘most beautiful road’ prize. The Paris mayor sketches out plans to ban polluting vehicles, trucks, buses and cars.

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THA BATTLE OF THE AUTOROUTES

Motorway tolls frozen as French government looks to cap ‘excessive’ profits.

With the one way toll between Calais and Avignon coming in at €55.70 these days – actually €73.40 on the theoretically quickest route via Paris – it’s no surprise road charges are a bone of contention in recessionary France these days.

Two official reports late last year calling motorway operator profits ‘excessive’ – with returns of up to 24% in some cases – have seen the issue become a political football.

The government has established a working group of MPs which met for the first time yesterday.

In a statement afterwards, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said, ‘The Government is indeed determined to overhaul the concessions in order to implement the recommendations made ​​by the Court of Auditors and the Competition Authority, to rebalance the contractual relationship between the State and the concessionaires.

The objectives of the Government are better regulation of tolls to preserve the purchasing power of drivers, stricter supervision of the profits of concessionaires and their increased participation in the financing of the country’s transport infrastructure.’

The working group will examine two scenarios according to the statement, either a complete renegotiation of the motorway concession contracts or terminating them all together.

It is expected to come up with answers by the end of February. In the meantime, the government has frozen the rise in tolls planned for the beginning of next month.

In response, the motorway operators’ association ASFA says that re-writing contacts will undermine international investors’ confidence in the government. Many of the operating companies have foreign shareholders.

Pierre Coppey, president of ASFA and deputy CEO of Vinci Autoroutes – which operates half of French autoroutes – said last night, ‘We demand respect for contracts.’

The situation is further complicated by a ‘highways stimulus plan’ – Plan de Reliance de Autoroutier – worked up in 2013. In return for an extra €3.2bn investment – and the creation of 15,000 construction jobs – the government had wanted to extend concession agreements without a competitive tender round.

Despite the plan being approved by Brussels last October, a consortium of user groups called Automobilité & Avenir last week called the move illegal and ‘against the interests of users and the state’. They have given Valls a two month deadline before starting legal action.

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Skjarvelandet along the Havoysund Road in Finnmark, right at the top of Norway, is officially the country’s ‘Most Beautiful Road 2014’ (according to roads directorate Vegvesen.no). Also known as Route 889, Skjarvelandet traces the coastline on the way up to the island of Havoya, almost on a par with – and not far away from – Nordkapp, Norway’s most northerly point. Originally a summer route, opened in 1988, Skjarvelandet was redeveloped in 2013 as a year round road. The challenge was to protect it from landslides. The solution was to build out into the bay on 300,000 cubic meters of rubble to create a sculptural form and a great driving experience. Those curves are no accident.

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roundup: FRANCE. Ahead of a presentation to the city council on 9 February, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo says she wants to ban ‘the most polluting buses and trucks’ from inside the peripherique ring road from 1 July. A year later the ban will include ‘all the most polluting vehicles’ says France24.com. Hidalgo says she will incentivise companies to buy cleaner vehicles, including ‘prime rate’ loans, to preserve deliveries in the city though it’s not clear whether this would include foreign firms.

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A rise in road deaths in France for the first time since 2001 sees a major package of new road safety rules despite the overall trend still being significantly downward.

Also, Big Stig makes it to Amsterdam. A group of drivers, also in Amsterdam, are landed with whopping fines after missing a road sign.

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ROAD SAFETY ‘CRISIS’ IN FRANCE

Major package of safety measures announced despite far fewer road deaths in 2014 than 2012.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announcing a new package of road safety measures yesterday. Photo Interior Ministry, @Place_Beauvau

Road deaths fell by nearly ten percent in France in December but it wasn’t enough to reverse the unfortunately upward trend seen over the year.

There were 3,388 fatalities in 2014 compared to 2013, a rise of 3.7% after more than a decade of consistent falls.

The bulk of the increase came from pedestrians and cyclists (both up 8%) with moped rider fatalities rising 6% and motorists 3%. Truck driver and biker deaths were stable.

As expected, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has announced a major package of measures – twenty six in all – to get the country back on track in achieving its target of fewer than 2000 road deaths by 2020.

Headline measures include cutting the blood alcohol content of drivers with less than three years’ experience to 0.2g/l (from the usual rate of 0.5). Some have interpreted a ban on headphones (and anything else liable to distract drivers behind the wheel) as also including telephone hands-free kits.

Significantly, the authorities also want to make a ‘registered driver’ liable for any infringements incurred by a vehicle.

Parking will also be banned within 5m of pedestrian crossings; mayors will be able to lower speed limits in entire metropolitan areas; more ‘double tap’ two-way radar cameras will be rolled out to catch front and rear number plates; and the speed limit on accident prone stretches of road will be lowered to 80kmh.

Other measures relate to improved education and, particularly, more sophisticated ways of recording accidents to isolate specific causes.

Overall, while comprehensive, the new measures lack the bite of the unmarked camera car programme introduced in March 2013. That lead to immediate – though un-sustained – falls in fatal accidents.

Despite the many lives saved, arguably road safety in France is still victim to that success. While many talk of crisis it should be noted that the death toll last year was still significantly less than the 3,653 fatalities seen in 2012.

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Big Stig outside the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam yesterday, on the way to Poznan, Poland, where it is expected to arrive today. Follow along at #BigStig on Twitter.

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NETHERLANDS. Up to thirty drivers were subject to €230 on-the-spot fines today after ignoring junction closed signs on the A10 Amsterdam ring (via @DutchTransport). The road was closed following an accident at Overamstel but the drivers, all approaching on the A2 from Utrecht, apparently missed the red X signs above the lane. There is some doubt about whether the sign was correctly displayed.

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The EU’s transport commissioner wants a uniform, Europe-wide system of road tolls.

Also, actor Idris Elba takes the new Jaguar XE on its first road trip. Another ‘far-right’ demonstration blocks Dover docks. Italy consolidates its reputation for having among the most expensive fuel in Europe with fresh rises while Switzerland edges up the table too. Germany and the Netherlands announce large scale, real-life tests for self-driving cars.

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EU HAS ANOTHER GO AT ROAD TOLLS

Wants uniform distance-based road charging in all Member States less than a year after scraping previous proposals.

Violeta Bulc, the European Commission’s Transport Commissioner. Pushing for a uniform EU-wide road charging system.

The European Commission’s Transport Commissioner wants a Europe-wide road toll system for cars.

Violeta Bulc told Germany’s ‘Welt am Sonntag’ yesterday that the current hodge-podge of toll systems in Europe is a ‘barrier to mobility’ and called for a uniform system based on the distance travelled.

‘We are looking at the idea right now,’ she said.

Apparently the system would not necessarily be compulsory. Bulc says countries could decide for themselves whether, or on which roads, to apply a charge. She hinted that plans would be unveiled in eighteen months.

It is surprising the idea has come up again so quickly. The Commission admitted defeat just last year after trying and failing to introduce an EU-wide road toll system, mainly – it is believed – over privacy fears in Germany.

(It is interesting in this respect that Bulc also told Sonntag am Welt, ‘New technological developments in the collection and integration of data mean we have the opportunity to re-think’.)

Also, just before leaving last October, Bulc’s predecessor Siim Kallas said about road tolls, ‘I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all solution for the whole of Europe. Conditions differ between Member States and even between regions.’

To be fair to the Commission, MEPs are keen on Continent-wide road charging. At a meeting of the Transport and Tourism Committee in November many pushed for the Commission to act.

Committee chairman Michael Cramer – @MEPMCramer – tweeted yesterday, ‘Bulc plans an EU road toll. Overcoming nationalistic view is good, but fairness will be key – socially & ecologically!’

The timing of Bulc’s interview was clearly no accident. She is due to meet the German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt in Berlin tomorrow for further discussions on the upcoming ‘foreigner toll’.

Apart from concerns over discrimination, the Commission objects to the German system because it allows unlimited travel within a certain period and gives no opportunity to influence driver behaviour by, for instance, varying tolls depending on demand or time of day. Officials have previously described such vignettes as ‘blunt instruments’.

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Idris Elba is taking the Jaguar XE Type on its first road trip. The multi-talented actor and film maker left yesterday on a 750 mile, three day drive from London to Berlin for the German launch of the compact new sports saloon. Elba’s car is the most efficient version of the XE, a 160bhp, two litre diesel which is said to do 75mpg and emit just 99g/km of CO2. A short documentary of the journey will be released at the end of February with snippets available @Jaguar from 10 February. A little bird tells @DriveEurope that motoring journalists get their hands on (prototype) XEs for the first time any minute now.

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roundup: DOVER. Three men were arrested during an attempt by a reportedly ‘far right’ group to blockade the Port of Dover yesterday afternoon reports KentOnline.co.uk. @Port_of_Dover tweeted in the afternoon that there had been ‘brief disruption caused by a protest’, apparently by the same group – ‘Support the Dover to Calais Truckers’ – who attempted to obstruct the port last September. The group’s Facebook page is ‘currently unavailable’. ITALY. As they did in Luxembourg last week, fuel prices have edged back up in Italy too thanks to a drop in the euro:dollar exchange rate. The average price of unleaded95 rose 0.8c today to €1.541/l according to Ansa.it. Diesel increased by the same amount to €1.465. That’s the fourth and fifth most expensive petrol and diesel in Europe. Meanwhile, the new free-floating franc sees fuel in SWITZERLAND rise too according to fuel-prices-Europe.info. Diesel is now Europe’s fourth most expensive at €1.452/l though unleaded95 is ninth at €1.365. NETHERLANDS. ‘The Netherlands is to become a testing ground for self-driving vehicles,’ said the Infrastructure and Environment Ministry on Friday as plans for large scale testing of self-driving cars and trucks were approved by the cabinet. Parliament needs to give its approval before the first roll out in and around Gelderland and Wageningen in the central east part of the country this summer reports DutchNews.nl. Meanwhile in GERMANY, transport minister Alexander Dobrindt says, ‘The German car industry will be world leaders in digital cars,’ as he announced today the ‘Digitales Testfeld Autobahns’ project. A section of the Berlin-Munich A9 in Bavaria will be converted into a test-field for advanced auto technology meaning self-driving cars but also cars which can communicate with each other, and the infrastructure itself.

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Nobody seems to be sure exactly how the new rules will be applied but Germany’s new minimum wage rule for truck drivers is causing a lot of anxiety in Eastern Europe (updated).

Also, the Monte Carlo Rally kicks off today in the mountains behind Monaco. Switzerland’s annual motorway vignette rises by a whopping 20% at the end of the month thanks to currency fluctuations.

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HAULIERS UNHAPPY ABOUT NEW GERMAN MINIMUM WAGE RULES

Merkel steps in to arrange talks with transport and labour ministers.

Truck drivers must be paid at least the minimum wage when working in Germany. Photo @DriveEurope

Several countries have recently announced measures to tackle ‘social dumping’ in road transport.

In an attempt to even up the imbalance between low wage foreign workers and domestic drivers, France and Belgium brought in large fines last year for drivers spending weekly rest periods inside their vehicles.

Meanwhile, as of 1 January, Germany says all truck drivers must be paid at least the national minimum wage of €8.50 while on its territory.

Precise details were scarce at this week’s European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee leading to MEPs to urgently request more information. The next meeting is at the end of January.

There is some doubt whether the new rules apply to transit traffic, or to drivers not working with German companies.

Now German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised the Polish Prime Minister a meeting to discuss the new rules says The Warsaw Voice.

Poland, just to the east of Germany, with Europe’s largest haulage industry, stands to lose the most from the new rules.

According to Trackinfo.eu hauliers have a duty to notify the authorities – at the Bundesfinanzdirektion West office in Cologne – before posting drivers to Germany.

See the English language enquiry line here. 

Roundup update. 29 January: Germany will stick to its guns a Labour Ministry spokesman tells thelocal.de. ‘The minimum wage law is applicable to all employees while they’re working in Germany, whether or not the employer is located here or abroad,’ he says. Also, an MEP from Lithuania and another from Slovakia want a European Parliament debate on the subject in order to ‘force the European Commission to react to the situation more actively and promptly’ says the Lithuania Tribune. 28 January: the International Road Transport Union calls on the German authorities to introduce a moratorium on the rules ‘following Chancellor Merkel’s recognition of related problems while speaking at a New Year’s reception of the CDU District Association in Greifwald yesterday.’ It adds that the neither the IRU, EU nor Member States were given any notice, and that there is no information available in any language other than German. According to the IRU, the European Commission has ‘launched a detailed investigation on the new German law and initiated the pre-infringement procedure (EU Pilot) with a deadline of 21 February for German authorities to answer.’

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The Monte Carlo Rally kicked off last night on the mountain roads between Monaco and Gap. The final leg is a run down the legendary Col de Turini. Photo @FIA

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roundup: SWITZERLAND. The price of the annual motorway vignette increases from €33 to €40 on 1 February thanks to the Swiss franc being ‘un-pegged’ from the euro last week. The currency has sharply risen in value since. The vignette is also available in dollars and pounds sterling but those prices are yet to be announced. Drivers heading to Switzerland this summer can buy the vignette in advance at its current price on-line at Swiss Travel System, valid until 31 January 2016. Some reports say another rise on 1 March has not been ruled out.

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Last updated 18:00GMT, Thursday 22 January.

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TODAY: Operation Stack J8-9 on the coastbound M20 – unlikely to be lifted until tomorrow afternoon reportedly (and on A16 Calais/Dunkirk, see below). Non-freight traffic diverted. Car drivers strongly advised to use M2/A2 to Dover (see below). Eurotunnel still recovering from fire and power outage at weekend. Operator says five of the tunnel’s six sections will be in operation today (up from four) allowing more regular departures. See below for current estimated delays. Dover, Calais + Dunkirk congested with freight traffic.

Black ice France, Limoges-Clermont + Colmar. See this BBC report on snow in Spain and flooding in Bosnia (+ more on Bosnia floods).

Truck protests France: earlier blockade on A1 northbound to Lille at Drocourt/Lens and truck columns on N230 ring east of Bordeaux. Returned now A1 northbound to Lille at Dourges but no major disruption.

NEWS: Paris pollution measures, reduced speed limits on major roads in Ile de France capital region + also in the Arve Valley to the Mont Blanc tunnel.

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CHANNEL DELAYS: Eurotunnel car shuttle UK now no delay, or France. Freight: UK still 2h00 before check-in + transit time down to 3h00; France still 6h00 + 4h00.

MyFerryLink delay 45mins. DFDS Dover-Dunkirk/Calais delay 1h30-2h30. P&O Dover-Calais some delays 50mins. Brittany Ferries 15:30 Bilbao-Portsmouth now due 23:00, tech issue.

WEATHER ALERT: amber alert snow/ice Spain + heavy rain/storm Italy.

WEATHER: fair North, rain Italy + Greece.

GOTTHARD TUNNEL: no queues.

MONT BLANC TUNNEL: earlier sleet Italy side now clear.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: A16 westbound into Calais, stack still in place at Dunkirk but still eased at Calais. A61 northbound to Toulouse, earlier accident Villefranche, delay still 2h00. A8 westbound to Monaco, vehicle fire Roquebrune delay increased to 1h15.

A1 northbound to Amsterdam, accident Amersfoort, delay 55mins.

A7 southbound to Wurzburg, accident, lanes closed Schweinfurt, delay 50mins. A8 eastbound Pforzheim, major accident, delay 60mins. A8 westbound to Munich, obstruction Traunstein delay 55mins.

A10 eastbound into Genoa, accident, delay 50mins. A4 westbound Bergamo, accident delay 1h10.

Earlier: A20 eastbound Dover, heavy port traffic, delay down to 15mins; A2 inbound delay 5mins. A3 eastbound Liege, road works, delay down to 5mins.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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In a first for a ferry company, DFDS is trialling a ‘stabilized bed’ on its Copenhagen-Oslo route onboard Crown Seaways. It works by sensing the roll of the ship in high seas then compensating with electric motors to keep the bed flat. First developed for the offshore industry the technology has since been used in hospital ships and high end yachts. See stable.no for more. Photo Frederik Reis/DFDS Seaways.

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Just when all hope appeared lost, Norwegian Seaways names a date for the resumption of ferry services between the UK and Scandinavia.

Also, more air quality alerts in Paris. Another setback for MyFerryLink. Petrol prices rise in Luxembourg.

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NORWEGIAN SEAWAYS TO LAUNCH MARCH 2016

Says market conditions have changed.

Bergen harbour: photo VisitBergen.com/Per Eike.

Norwegian Seaways has set a date for the resumption of ferry services between the UK and Scandinavia.

In what is presumably a reference to falling fuel prices, the company says the market conditions have changed. It expects to finalise funding in the spring ahead of a brand launch in September and the start of services – likely between Newcastle, Bergen and Stavanger – the following March.

In a statement via the International Campaign for the Ferry to Norway (ICFN), Norwegian Seaways operations director Paul Woodbury says, ‘In 2014 we had a viable plan. We now have an even more viable plan given the change in market conditions. We have overhauled our business plan and are finalising our strategy with the intent of securing final funding in the spring of this year for launch of a new brand in September 2015 and a new service in March 2016.’

ICFN adds, ‘This latest statement from Norwegian Seaways follows a string of recent positive developments which tend to show that Norwegian Seaways’ cautious and meticulous approach in its efforts to restore the UK – Norway ferry service over the years is about to pay dividends… although the statement is brief, the message it conveys will be welcome news for thousands of travellers across the UK and throughout Scandinavia.’

The final UK-Scandinavia ferry service, operated by DFDS between Harwich and Esbjerg, Denmark, was withdrawn last September. Norwegian Seaways first emerged as a potential operator in November 2013. In the meantime Regina Lines’ proposed replacement Harwich-Esbjerg service has, apparently, failed to get off the ground.

At debate in the Scottish Parliament on ferry links to Scandinavia earlier this month, transport minister Derek Mackay said the government supported the idea but any help is could offer would be ‘limited’.

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Sweden: final stretch of ‘ultra safe’ 2+1 on the E4 Stockholm-Malmo motorway to be widened. More later. Photo @DriveEurope.

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roundup: FRANCE. Paris air quality observer Airparif says pollutant levels are expected to reach 77/100 tomorrow, well over the threshold of 50/100 which triggers abatement measures. Expect reduced speed limits at the very least. CROSSING THE CHANNEL. The ‘SCOP’ workers co-operative at MyFerryLink had their application for appeal against the recent Eurotunnel II ruling unanimously rejected by the Competition Appeal Tribunal yesterday. The last hope for the Dover-Calais operator, and its employees, is to be sold as a going concern. LUXEMBOURG. The (nationally regulated) price of petrol has actually increased today after months of falls. Unleaded 95 now costs €1.076/l and unleaded 98 €1.14 says Wort.lu. Diesel stays the same, at €0.963, for now.

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Last updated 18:10GMT, Tuesday 20 January.

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TODAY: Eurotunnel still recovering from fire and power outage at weekend. Full service was expected to resume today but there is now some doubt. See below for current estimated delays. The roads into Dover and the port very busy with freight traffic, see below, plus snow across Kent. Calais and Dunkirk also very busy.

Truck protests France, still some go-slow protests and blockades, a go-slow on the south Rennes ring road, blockade south east Caen ring road and truck columns around the A630 ring in northern Bordeaux.

Snow southern Spain + Scandinavia and south and east Baltic. On-going floods Bosnia. Black ice south west France, Poitiers-Bordeaux. Snow A7 Lyon-Avignon (now clear). Truck ban earlier A48 south east France but now re-opened. Freezing rain Basel. ‘Difficult driving conditions’, snow A2 south Gotthard, Switzerland.

NEWS: another fake Luxembourg traffic cop. Confusion over Ukraine-Crimea cross-border traffic. New upstanding traffic police Kyiv. The speed limit cut on the Paris peripherique has been such a success it may now be cut again.

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CHANNEL DELAYS: Eurotunnel car shuttle UK delay still 60mins, France 30mins. Freight: UK wait before check-in still 90mins + transit time 5h00; France down to 90mins + 5h00. P&O Dover-Calais delay 30mins. MyFerryLink previous delay 30mins.

WEATHER ALERT: amber alert snow/ice Spain + heavy rain south Italy + new amber alert snow/ice north west France.

WEATHER: cold North, unsettled South.

GOTTHARD TUNNEL: no queues.

MONT BLANC TUNNEL: ‘traffic is fluent’.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: M20/A20 eastbound Folkestone–Dover, total delay showing 2h10.

A6 southbound from Paris, vehicle fire Evry, delay increased to 1h15.

A4 westbound from Cologne, earlier accident Cologne West, lanes closed, delay still 60mins+. A59 northbound into Cologne, lanes blocked, delay 50mins. A8 westbound Salzburg-Munich, earlier accident Chiemsee, closed Vachendorf delay increased to 1h40.

A1 southbound from Milan, holdup Melegnano delay 50mins.

Earlier: now no delay A13 westbound into Antwerp, A12/A50 northbound from Arnhem, A14 northbound into Magdeburg, A61 southbound Monchengladbach, A6 eastbound Mannheim. A50 northbound south Milan, road works, delay down to 35mins.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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A new book, ‘Architecture and Landscape in Norway’ by German photographer Ken Schluchtmann is the result of 20,000km driven on the Norwegian Tourist Routes. More later. Photo nasjonaleturistveger.no

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roundup: LUXEMBOURG. Following a similar incident last October, another motorist has been stopped by fake traffic cops. The driver was pulled over by a blue light placed in the road in the Bleesbrück region of northern Luxembourg. The two men spoke French to the driver but Portuguese to each other says Wort.lu. UKRAINE. Confusion over whether road traffic and trains are allowed to cross the Crimea border, pointed up by the Crimea News Agency. Local reports say buses have been allowed to cross but the ‘Ukraine state inspectorate for ground transport safety’ denies it. Meanwhile, an overhaul of ‘notoriously’ corrupt traffic police in Kyiv has been announced says Kyiv Post. Funded by the US government, some 2,000 officers are in the process of being recruited with the first expected to start work in July. If successful, the scheme will be rolled out across the rest of the country. FRANCE. Accidents are down 15%, and average speed is up 18% in the morning (to 38.4kmh) and 12% in the evening (to 33.9%) – saving 15% and 5% on the average commute respectively – since the speed limit on the Paris peripherique ring road was cut from 80kmh to 70kmh twelve months ago. Speeding fines however more than tripled, from 138,138 to 461,596 (or doubled on a like-for-like basis as the number of radar traps grew from 7 to 16 over the year). From the authorities point of view the reduced limit has been such a success they now want to press ahead with a cut to 50kmh, initially at least from 22:00-07:00.

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Last updated 18:00GMT, Monday 19 January.

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TODAY: Eurotunnel still recovering from fire and power outage at weekend. Full service unlikely before Tuesday – 1m gallons of water needs to be drained from the tunnel where the fire occurred – see below for current estimated delays.

Truck protests France, expected to finish at 09:00 (and did, mostly) but continued into the afternoon in some places and are still blocking the N814 ring in east Caen, both directions. Brittany Ferries advising drivers to avoid Caen ring road. @NeilSmith67 in Caen says trucks are being stopped and threatened with damage. Thelocal.fr reports protests could continue until tomorrow though Neil Smith says strikers told him at lunchtime likely to last another 4-5 hours.

Snow overnight Madrid and east Spain. Light snow southern Paris, north Netherlands. Black ice east France, Colmar. Sleet A5 Aosta/Mont Blanc. Main roads have improved in Latvia but regional roads still challenging.

NEWS: a round-up of Spain news: Barcelona car-free Sundays; anti-diesel politics in Madrid; and national speed limits to be cut.

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CHANNEL DELAYS: Eurotunnel car shuttle UK delay still 60mins + France 30mins. freight: UK now 60mins wait before check-in + transit time now 5h00; France now no wait before check-in, transit time still 5h00.

Brittany Ferries Portsmouth and Santander knock-on disruption from the weekend.

WEATHER ALERT: amber alert snow/ice France (new alert south east), Switzerland, Spain, high winds Italy, heavy rain Bosnia.

WEATHER: rain and snow Spain and East Europe. Rain central Mediterranean.

GOTTHARD TUNNEL: no queues.

MONT BLANC TUNNEL: ‘traffic is fluent’.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: A13 northbound Rotterdam-Delft, lanes closed, delay 45mins. A58 eastbound Tilburg-Eindhoven, accident, delay down to 50mins.

R0 ring north Brussels, anticlock, accident delay down to 35mins.

A4 westbound Vicenza, accident delay 45mins.

Earlier: A4 westbound Cologne-Aachen, A620 westbound Saarbrucken.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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German cycling activists getting a lot of publicity, even around the world, by spraying cars parked in cycle lanes with cream road markings. Probably coming to a place near you soon. See Clevere Stadte, @wegeheld

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Roundup Spain: BARCELONA. Sections of Avenue Diagonal and Passeig de Gracia, two of the city’s main streets, will be vehicle-free on Sundays and public holidays between 09:00-17:00 from March. If successful, others streets will be included reports thelocal.es. MADRID. As in the Paris, diesel engines have become a hot topic in the up-coming mayoral elections. Socialist candidate Antonio Miguel Carmona says he will ban diesel engines by 2020 according to TheOlivePress.es. Incumbent Ana Botella, already responsible for anti-car measures like the planned residents’ cars only zones and smart parking meters – where bigger vehicles pay more – says she wants to ban diesels too but calls the timeframe ‘unrealistic’. NATIONAL. Locals must be getting used to yo-yo speed limits. The motorway speed limit was restored to 120kmh from 110kph in 2011 then, last March, law makers voted through a further rise to 130kmh plus cuts to the national speed limit though they were never enacted. The 130kmh limit is still on the books but the lower national limits – from 100kmh to 90kmh and 90kmh to 70kmh or even 50kmh – will now come into force in the spring says TheOlivePress.es.

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Shock and incredulity in Romania after the staggering costs of the Transylvania Highway are revealed. It will be Europe’s – and possibly the World’s – most expensive motorway project, ever.

Plus, toll fines issued to vehicle owners rather than drivers are illegal says a court in Portugal. The death toll in the Greece ferry fire may rise significantly. Campaigners against the plan to sell Croatia’s motorways suffer a setback.

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ROMANIA’S INCREDIBLE €8.5BN THIRTY MILE MOTORWAY

Eyewatering ‘Transylvania Highway’ bill boosted by finance costs.

A3 Transylvania Highway. Picture via Wikipedia.

Finance costs for the upcoming A3 Comarnic-Brasov ‘Transylvania Highway’ see the bill rise from €2.7bn to €8.45bn over the next thirty years.

The road will stretch just 33 miles (53km) between Comarnic and Brasov in central Romania albeit across the Carpathian Mountains.

The costs, made public for the first time this week, have provoked incredulity among locals.

Bucharest Life editor Craig Turp (@BucharestLife) said, ‘Romania loves a world record, and it’s about to get another: the world’s most expensive motorway. Another triumph for [prime minister] Victor Ponta.

‘How expensive? €8.5 billion for 53 km of motorway. It takes a kind of genius to do a deal like that.’

Design, engineering and construction costs alone work out at more than €34m per km, dwarfing the €20m+ per km of the similarly mountainous Bar-Boljare motorway in Montenegro, previously Europe’s most expensive road project.

The final bill includes operation and maintenance for the thirty year life of the concession. The government contribution totals €325.2m each year less its (small) share of revenue from roadside advertising and rent from filling stations, etc. The road will be tolled at €1.50 each way.

An initial contract was signed with France-Greece-Austria consortium Vinci-Aktor-Strabag last year. According to our understanding it will be finalised next month. Construction is expected to take four years.

Despite Renault – owner of car maker Dacia, headquartered south of the Carpathians – lobbying hard for the A1 motorway, to link the factory (and Bucharest) with the west European road network, the government has continued to see A3 as its top priority.

A3 traces a similar route to A1, between central and west Romania, meeting the (yet to be built) M4 motorway at the Hungarian border by Oradea, but is much less direct.

However, in the meantime, apart from linking major cities Ploiesti, Brasov and Cluj-Napoca, A3 will run along the Prahova Valley, one of Romania’s foremost tourist destinations.

Interestingly, A3 Comarnic-Brasov is listed among the European Commission’s nine priority corridors on the Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) published this week.

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Aside from the initial investment in buying an extra set, one of the disadvantages of buying winter tyres is the effect on fuel economy (our all-weather tyres have seen a consistent dip of 1.3mpg over our previous summer tyres). Finnish manufacturer Nokian says it has now squared the circle with the Hakkapeliitta R2 which, the company claims, is the world’s first winter tyre to achieve an EU label Class-A energy rating, i.e. better that many summer tyres. The downside for most drivers is that R2 has been specially designed for the BMW i3 (and other electric vehicles). It’s not clear if and when the R2 will be available for conventional cars, or if the low rolling resistance was achieved partly as a result of the narrow boots used on the i3. Will update.

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roundup: PORTUGAL. Toll fines levied against the vehicle owner rather than the driver are illegal ruled a regional court this week says The Portugal News. It is interesting since, as we understand it, the new EU cross-border fines rules mean owners rather than drivers are liable for penalties (though toll fines are not included). GREECE. Twenty seven people may have died in the Norman Atlantic ferry fire over New Year says thelocal.it, considerably up from the eleven bodies so far recovered. A new ‘definitive’ list from the Greek authorities says a further sixteen paying passengers are still unaccounted for. CROATIA. Campaigners’ request to halt the motorway concession plan has been rejected by the Constitutional Court reports the Independent Balkan News Agency. They had hoped to prevent further moves until the outcome of a referendum was known. A 530,000 signature petition ‘We will not give up our motorways’ has been collected. Recently ousted President Josipovic supported the campaign as has another leading politician, Tomislav Karamarko (a possible next prime minister). The current government wants to sell the national road operator to pay back debts and free funds for further investment, notably the Adriatic-Ionian motorway.

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