Free-flow toll motorways

November 2022 saw the launch of the first in a new generation of toll motorways - the péage en flux libre or free-flow toll.

You still pay to use the motorway, but instead of having to stop at toll booths, cameras and sensors mounted on overhead gantries record passing vehicles, and payment is taken away from the motorway. It's similar to what is in use at the Dartford Crossing and Runcorn-Widnes bridges in the UK.

For more information on toll motorways in general, please take a look at our dedicated page.

Using the free-toll motorways

Like ordinary toll motorways, free-flow routes are signposted , so you'll always know beforehand that a toll section is coming up. They are signposted such on both the motorway itself, as well as approaching and at junctions. Free alternative routes are also signposted if you decide not to pay.

Once you are on the motorway, you use them just like a free route. Overhead gantries record all passing vehicles using infra-red cameras (so work even in bad weather), and re linked to radar detectors that are able to detect télépéage tags.

Free-flow gantry above an A79 slip road, with cameras and radar detectors on the underside. The sign advises of ticketless entry, but a regular toll booth 8km ahead

Where they are located

Free-flow motorways are only in use at a small number of locations:

A4	Junction 38 at Boulay-Moselle, but only on the westbound entry and eastbound exit slip roads. First installation in France (introduced 2019), used as a test site for operator Sanef.
A10	Junction 19 at Tours North, but only on the northbound exit, and only available to those with a Télépéage toll tag.
A13/A14	Full motorway system in the process of being introduced. A14 is live, as is A13 junction 18, with rest of the A13 due to launch by the end of 2024.
A41/A43	Located at the A41/A43 interchange outside Chambéry, but only for northbound traffic heading onto the A41 towards Annecy. Regular toll booths operate when leaving the toll section, but the system is able to recognise the vehicle and charges accordingly.
A79	First full motorway system, launched in November 2022 - covers three short sections of motorway in the vicinity of junctions 24, 29 and 33. There's still a traditional toll booth though, at the western end of the motorway (for traffic entering and leaving the A71).
Future planned installations
A43, A48, A49	Full motorway system to be introduced in the second half of 2025.
A69	Full motorway system to be introduced on opening of this new route, expected 2025.

Paying your toll

There are several ways to pay for your toll:

• Télépéage - you don't need to do anything, charges are added to your account as usual and payment is taken via direct debit the following month.

• Automatic payment - register your car's details on the operator's website (see above), and payemt is automatically taken from your bank account. For the A4 toll, you'll be sent a sticker to affix to your windscreen. 

• Online - you can pay for your tolls on the motorway operator's website (see above), within a fixed number of days*. Rather than paying each time you use the motorway, this allows you to pay for multiple trips together - for example there and back during a weekend away.
       * - payment to be made within 3 days for the A79, 10 days for the A4 - failure to pay on time may result in additional late payment fees.

• Pay stations - payment stations located at service areas and at some junctions, allowing you to pay by cash or card - you just enter your vehicle registration number and pay for any trip, even current and future ones.

Roadside toll payment machine located in a roadside service area

 

 Picture credits
 Free-flow toll gantry is taken from an original by Tabl-trai and used under this Creative Commons license
 Toll payment machine is taken from an original by Tabl-trai and used under this Creative Commons license