Minister considering toll roads over roac pricing; Tempers 130 km/h expectations

Minister Barry Madlener of Infrastructure and Water Management is seriously considering toll roads as a possible alternative to road pricing. The PVV Minister also tempered expectations about rising speed limits back to 130 kilometers per hour, saying it would only happen on some stretches of highways on limited routes.

The Rutte III Cabinet’s plan for road pricing, in which road users are taxed per kilometer driven, was a “plan that was devised behind a desk,” Madlener told BNR. “In theory, paying according to use is ideal, but there are a number of major objections.” Expense and complicated implementation among them, he said. “Everyone has to have a box in the car that stores GPS data.” Road pricing is “not a standing policy anywhere in the world,” he said.

However, several countries use toll roads, he said. Tolling could also be a way to fund the construction and maintenance of new motorways—raise money from private investors, who can then earn their investment back by charging tolls.

At the moment, there are no motorways in the Netherlands that charge tolls. But toll systems have been set up on several bridges and tunnels, such as the Blankenburgtunnel, which will open on December 7. “Without tolls, that tunnel could not have been paid for,” Madlener said. He stressed that tolls also give people “the choice not to use it” and make a detour.

Madlener also said that increasing speed limits on the highways back to 130 kilometers per hour is proving more complicated than expected. The nitrogen space is limited, and noise pollution could also cause problems, he told ANP on his way into the weekly Council of Ministers.

For the time being, it will only be possible to drive 130 kilometers per hour during the day on a few stretches of highway outside the Randstad. “They will be limited routes and for a limited distance,” he said. “But, it is at least a start.”

Marco te Brömmelstroet, a professor of urban planning at the University of Amsterdam, recently criticized the government’s plan to increase speed limits while also saying that it wants to reduce traffic deaths.

“We explain to small children that playing safely on the street is their own responsibility. Why don’t we turn it around and look at what causes the danger? Why do we accept that we are going back to 130 kilometers per hour, while that means more deaths?” he said. “Instead of banning cars that don’t fit in a parking space, we say that victims should have worn a helmet. I missed the conversation about how we have come to consider this normal.”