Skip to main content

Netherlands' first free-flow toll road opens

A24/Blankenburg connection designed to relieve congestion around Rotterdam
By Adam Hill December 13, 2024 Read time: 1 min
Traffic on the A20 near Rotterdam (© Menno Van Der Haven | Dreamstime.com)

The first free-flow toll motorway has opened in the Netherlands.

The new A24/Blankenburg connection links the A15 at Rozenburg with the A20 at Vlaardingen near the port city of Rotterdam. 

Two tunnels, Hollandtunnel and Maasdeltatunnel, are expected to see 60,000 vehicles per day.

Several major ITS firms are involved: Emovis has designed and installed the system, and will maintain it; Via Verde is managing and collecting tolls, with A-to-Be providing its MoveBeyond back-office system; while Conduent runs the customer contact centre.

Electronic toll rates, for Dutch and foreign vehicles, are €1.51 per time for cars, vans and motorcycles (up to and including 3,500 kg) and electric vans (up to and including 4,250 kg). 

Trucks and other vehicles (above 3,500 kg) are charged €9.13 per trip. 

From 2026, these fees - used to recoup part of the cost of the new build - will be adjusted each year.

Jan Strijk, director of toll collection at Netherlands Vehicle Authority (RDW), says the tolls are expected to be in place for around 25 years, depending on traffic volumes.

Licence plates can be registered for automatic payment, with payment to be made within 72 hours of the journey. A payment reminder will follow from RDW - followed by a non-payment fine of €35 per trip per licence plate. 

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Kapsch initiates tolling project in Bulgaria
    January 17, 2018
    Kapch has been selected by the Bulgarian Roads Infrastructure Agency, in a contract valued лв.149.9m (£68m), to implement a nationwide tolling system. It will set up technical configuration and support of the system for trucks over 3.5 tons, as well as the introduce an electronic vignette for passenger cars during the 19-month project. Over the course of seven months, Kapsch will implement 500 terminals for registering and issuing electronic vignettes, 100 enforcement vehicles, 100 weigh-in-motion
  • Can GNSS solve the tolling world’s woes?
    December 5, 2013
    Kapsch’s Arno Klamminger and Wolfgang Fleischer consider the need for an agnostic approach to technology for charging and tolling. Periodically, given the march of technology, it is worth pausing and taking stock of where we have got to and where we go next. Such reflections are necessary if we are to take full advantage of what we have at our disposal and, potentially, avoid decisions which push us down technological culs de sac. A look at the use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based technol
  • Cellular communications drive the way forward for tolling
    January 18, 2012
    For more than 20 years prior to joining the ITS industry, Mike Payne of Idris, part of Federal Signal Technologies, worked for Vodafone - the world's biggest mobile operator. Here, he considers how the road tolling sector can grow and learn from the cellular industry. The global cellphone has been one of the most successful collaborative technology projects in the last 30 years. Mobile phone technology developed throughout the 20th century with the first public service in the early 70s. This was followed by
  • New solutions to old problems set to cut emergency response times
    April 30, 2015
    David Crawford looks at the latest developments in emergency response. Ensuring speedier reactions to transport and travel crises is becoming increasingly important. US statistics suggest that as many as 1,000 ‘saveable’ lives can be lost each year in major cities because of operational defects in their SOS operations.