Cascais House admits to tolls in Marginal to finance works

O mayor of Cascais admits the possibility of putting tolls on Avenida Marginal, to finance the works and maintenance that the road needs.

In declarations to CNN Portugal, Nuno Piteira Lopes explained that the idea arose after the camarário executive had approved, on Tuesday, the intention to assume the management of Marginal up to the limit of the county, in Carcavelos.

As Avenida Marginal needs improvements to make it safer, this requires an investment that the State and Infrastructure of Portugal (IP) are not willing to make.

The Cascais House then assumes the management and part of the investment needed and to pay this expense the municipal executive considers putting tolls.

“The possibility of the Municipality of Cascais, assuming the competence of the management of Marginal, may apply a toll, and it was from the first second indicated that the municipalities of Cascais would obviously not pay this toll”, highlighted.

What is this about?

According to CNN Portugal, among the various interventions to increase security on Avenida Marginal that the municipality plans to advance are: “a central corridor to Carcavelos, a roundabout outside Wall, radars and fines for those who break speed limits, traffic control cameras and video surveillance”.

Interventions that many municipalities agree are necessary, however, not by paying tolls.

The proposal of the municipality is already generating controversy, as it may result in increased traffic on alternative routes, as well as more expenses for drivers. 

“ Putting tolls on Marginal doesn't mean ending cars. It could mean ending cars on the Marginal, but we're gonna put cars outside people's houses. We're gonna put traffic in residential areas because everyone's gonna look for alternatives to Marginal. With costs for themselves because they will take longer on their journeys, with costs for residents who will have traffic where it does not exist, with environmental costs ", lamented the socialist councilman João Alexandre Ferreira Redivo in statements made to the television channel.

PS against. “Cobrance can divert transit to residential areas”

In social networks, João Ruivo was even more incisive: “The PS is against the introduction of tolls in Marginal”.

“Recovery may divert transit to residential areas. Getting the residents out doesn't protect them from having more cars outside their house. Mobility does not end at the Cascais border – nor does it resolve only with the train to the Cais do Sodré. Improving the Cascais line is essential, but it is not enough: effective links between municipalities and a public transport network that responds to the movements of those who live, work and study in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area are essential. We defend real alternatives and solutions articulated to the metropolitan scale, before imposing new costs to those who need to move”, wrote the socialist on his Facebook page.

In an interview with CNN Portugal, Councilman João Maria Jonet argued that “the idea of portajar is very important, as it would be to create other incentives to go to Cascais cost more for those who do not live there”.

It is recalled that, currently, Marginal is an alternative for those who do not want to pay for the tolls of A5, but the mayor believes that those who go to Cascais can do it differently.

“The Cascais line, which had an investment like it had decades ago, being the trains about to arrive, being announced by the Minister of Infrastructure that there will be a contest for a possible privatization of line management I believe it will be possible for us to withdraw more and more users of the individual train transport for the train,” said Nuno Piteira Lopes.

Cascais City Hall expects to take over the management of the section by the end of the year. Besides Marginal, it will also protect the variant of the National Road 67 and the National Road 240.