• Data. 20,000 vehicles per day: the figures of the AP7 in the Valencian Community before its liberalization

"The toll , that is, the payment for using the highway , is common practice throughout the world. It is precisely the user who pays for the service he receives, and not the rest of the community." This was explained by the NO-DO in 1972, in full Franco Development, the need to pay for driving on the new highways built under concession that has been present in the lives of millions of inhabitants of the Valencian Community and Catalonia since December 1971 until today. The AP7 toll motorway, the Mediterranean motorway , which runs along the coast from north to south is from January 1 a free route in the 337 kilometers that go from L'Hospitalet de l'Infant (Tarragona) to Alicante , an eternal requirement that has become reality.

Vicent Grimalt does not remember traveling to Valencia or Alicante without having to go through the toll barrier and pay 12 cents for every kilometer he travels. He is mayor of Dénia , capital of the Alicante region of the Marina Alta, just halfway between Alicante and Valencia. Without a rail connection, the road is the way to reach the town. To yours and many others. "We are a poorly connected region. We have the same right as other citizens to move without paying and we have been doing it for almost half a century, " explains the socialist.

On May 9, 1972, the Spanish Courts approved the Law for the construction, operation and conservation of highways under concession. On July 23, 1971 and December 21, 1972, the company Aumar (Autopistas del Mare Nostrum) obtained the concession of the Salou (Tarragona) -Valencia and Valencia-Alicante sections for a period of 27 years, until 1998. The Regime It thus complied with the recommendations of the World Bank , which in its report The economic development of Spain in 1962 ensured that the only important road of new construction that would be necessary in the immediate future was the Levante highway, "along the coast from the Mediterranean, from the French border to Murcia " . The road would become the access to tourist populations such as Benicàssim , Gandía , Altea, Calpe or Benidorm and communicated important industrial and agricultural areas with Europe.

This concession to Aumar, which covered the cost of 2.3 billion euros of construction , was extended with the successive democratic governments of different signatures. The company - now a subsidiary of Abertis and with a majority shareholding of ACS, the construction company of Florentino Pérez - obtained between 1981 and 1982 an extension of six and four years that extended its concession until 2004. Before the end of this period, in 1986 and under the Government of Felipe González, it lasted until 2006, two more years. But it was the popular José María Aznar who in 1997 signed the 13-year extension that has arrived until 23:59 on December 31, 2019. Last night, since ten o'clock at night there were no employees in the toll booths to perform Collections and barriers were open.

At the Ondara tollbooth (Valencia), the Fem Marina Alta collective organized an end-of-the-year sobaquillo dinner in the nearest service area, where they took the grapes and set off for Benissa. For the first time in 48 years without paying a cent . There are many neighborhood movements that have been demanding the elimination of that canon since 1989, accompanied in many cases by municipal governments such as those of Benissa , Oliva and Calpe and echoed in the last decade in social networks.

"It is going to be a special feeling to go through the toll and not have to take a ticket or pay. One of these days I will have to go to Oliva to give me satisfaction," jokes Vicent Grimalt, who considers the 130,000 euros "a lesser evil" that will lose its municipal budget will lose in the chapter of income in concept of IBI by the facilities of Aumar. And the beneficiaries are many. "Dénia is the county seat. Here are the courts, the Treasury, the hospital, the Social Security treasury ... there are many citizens who come to the city and many officials who travel daily because they have residence in others nearby cities, "says the mayor. Not to mention that its population multiplies in summer. And the tourist can only arrive by road with a cost that can exceed 20 euros for a round trip . "It almost cost us less to take the ferry to Formentera than to go to Valencia," recalls the mayor.

Businessmen for and against

Liberalization is a relief for private pockets and for carriers , who fled this route to the last section in Castellón because of the high cost. For them, 14 cents a kilometer. The Valencian Federation of Transport Entrepreneurs (FVET) estimates savings between 2,000 and 2,500 euros per vehicle per year. "The benefit is for long-haul routes, but also for carriers that cover proximity routes, which previously avoided this route to save toll costs," explains its president, Carlos Prades.

However, gratuity has its dark side. In fact, not all affected groups were in favor of the disappearance of the toll, but instead opted for other options such as the 'soft or null toll' for residents but kept for the rest of vehicles , a way to contain the increase in traffic and also to cover the maintenance needs, which will now have to assume promotion and that has already begun to tender in some sections. It will allocate 26 million euros per year , to have about 337 kilometers released.

The Chamber of Commerce of Alicante and the tourism board of the Costa Blanca (Hosbec) are the main detractors of gratuity. The businessmen even commissioned the Institute of Economic Studies of the Province of Alicante (Ineca) a study in which the most recommended options for the future of the highway were analyzed. The work, carried out by university professors Joaquín Melgarejo, Armando Ortuño, Jairo Casares and Vicente Mateu, concluded that liberalization was the worst of them. The transfer of traffic from the N-332 to the highway would be enormous and would reduce the fluidity of the road , which would pass according to the study of about 18,000 vehicles per day on average (figure that the Ministry estimated at 27,000) to about 39,000. The costs, external and maintenance , would skyrocket and could no longer be compensated because nothing would be entered through the toll collection.

The tourism sector on the Costa Blanca has also been opposed to free circulation by the AP7. "It is the only way of communication of the Marina Alta and Baja regions [where Benidorm is located] with the airport and with Valencia, the road would collapse," Hosbec president Toni Mayor has always defended.

“We are worried that tourists arriving by the airport may take between an hour and a half and about two hours to reach Las Marinas because the AP-7 is collapsed. Ideally, the connection by train from the airport and from the AVE station, but until that arrives, we have no more communication route than the AP-7, which can be saturated as are the Alicante by-pass and Valencia », he insists.

With liberalization become a reality, studies and forecasts will be evaluated with traffic data that ends up demonstrating whether gratuity is an option that can be maintained or, on the other hand, the public investment necessary to maintain it forces us to return to Other formulas

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