Austria is centrally located at the hub of Europe, and its motorway and expressway network is characterised by three special features :
the Alps form a natural barrier between the roads in the north and south, and have a greater influence on motorway building than in any other European country.
Austria today is a crossroad for east-west European traffic. Traversing the region of Vienna, traffic spreads out from the countries of Eastern Europe to those of the west, and vice versa.We may note that by 1994 the A4 motorway at Vienna - Schwechat recorded a daily traffic of about 50,000 vehicles.
The motorway crossing of the Alps necessitated the construction of complex bridges and tunnels. For example, about a quarter of the Tauern toll motorway (A 10), consists only of bridges and tunnels .
ASECAP Liaison Office was recently established in Vienna, where ASFINAG was appointed as a leading member to represent the ASECAP “Know How” on road management and concession functioning for the Eastern European Area.
HISTORY
During the 1970’s, six road companies were established in Austria, with responsibility for building the most complex motorway links: the mountain motorways of Brenner, Arlberg, Tauern and Pyhrn.
These sections were rapidly built and operated under the toll system.
The toll motorways were financed by borrowing in the form of loans and credits, income coming from the tolls themselves and from grants from the Republic of Austria and the different Federal States.
In 1982 the government created the Autobahnen- und Schnellstraßenfinanzierungs- Aktiengesellschaft (ASFINAG) with the task of funding the construction of Austrian motorways and maintaining financial control.
In 1993 the six road companies merged into two: "Österreichische Autobahnen- und Schnellstraßen-Aktiengesellschaft" (ÖSAG) and "Alpen Straßen Aktiengesellschaft" (ASG). Their responsibilities cover construction, maintenance and collection of tolls, with the government providing assistance and advice on matters related to "road pricing" and the definition of a general policy governing road maintenance.
In the mean time, the Republic of Austria has transferred its shares of ÖSAG and ASG to ASFINAG, which now has the majority in both companies.
At the end of 2002, the Austrian motorway and expressway network was about 2,000 km long. 165 km of this network consist of tunnels and of bridges. The sections that require considerable investments due to especially costly alpine terrain (the A9 Pyhrn motorway, the A10 Tauern motorway, the A11 Karawanken motorway, the A13 Brenner motorway and the S16 Arlberg expressway) - all together about 140 km - are subject to a distance related toll payment.
For the remaining part of the network, a time based toll is charged for all vehicles up to 12 tons through a vignette system.
In 2002 net revenue from tolls amounted to € 571.4 million.
FUTURE TRENDS
From the 1st of January 2004 onward, ASFINAG will start the first fully electronic free-flow multilane toll system worldwide based on the microwave technology (5.8 GHz) that has already been installed in 28 different countries. About 800 spots for toll charging will guarantee a smooth toll collection within the traffic flow. Subject to this toll are all vehicles with a maximum gross weight of more than 3.5 tons. The toll is collected on the whole motorway and expressway network in Austria.
The average toll-tariff is 0.22 Euro per kilometre. The amount of the toll-fee depends on the number of axles and is graded according to three categories:
· Vehicles with two axles pay 0.13 cent per kilometre (category 2),
· vehicles with three axles pay 0.18 cent per kilometre (category 3) and
· vehicles with four or more axles pay 0.27 cent per kilometre (category 4).
On existing toll plazas (Pyhrn, Tauern, Karawanken, Brenner, Arlberg), a higher tariff per kilometer will be charged.
This system is simple and fair; each single vehicle will be charged according to the intensity of its strain to the roads. All profits form the truck toll will be fully reinvested into the construction and maintenance of roads and motorways.
For further information please visit the ASFINAG web-site www.asfinag.at or download the document « Toll charges for trucks and buses in Austria »
the Alps form a natural barrier between the roads in the north and south, and have a greater influence on motorway building than in any other European country.