Toll financing in Norway has been used to finance new roads as a supplement to public funds for more than 70 years. While bridges often where subjected to tolls hundreds of years ago, toll financing as we know it today started in the early 1930s when the Vrengen bridge situated near the town of Tønsberg were financed using tolls. Since then over 100 projects have been financed by tolls and only one has ever been declared bankrupt. Traditionally, tolls were used to finance bridges and tunnels to replace ferry connections, but the 1980s saw an increase in both the number of and the type of projects financed by tolls. A reduction in road investment budgets coincided with a liberalisation in the credit market, making tolls a natural alternative. Traffic was growing rapidly and congestion was starting to have a severe impact on traffic flows in the largest cities. This lead to the implementation of cordon tolls in the cities of Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim in the years 1986 to 1991. The revenues from the toll cordons (now numbering seven) still make up the bulk of the total toll revenues. Today there are some 48 toll projects in operation and the numbers are increasing. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting