Trondheim Toll Scheme - Project Size

Project Size

The system financed by the scheme includes a ring road around the city on European route E6, a new motorway east of the city to Stjørdal and Trondheim Airport, Værnes on E6, upgrades to E6 south of the city, including a new intersection at Sandmoen, a new Kroppan Bridge and a four-lane motorway between Klett and Melhus. As of 2007 a road from Ila via Brattøra to Lademoen, named Nordre Avlastningsvei, is under construction with plans to be finished in 2009 while an extension of E6 between the airport and to Kvithamar north of Stjørdal is in the start fase. Projects still not started include putting Osloveien in Byåsen in a tunnel, a new Sluppen Bridge and a four-lane motorway between Tonstad in Tiller to Klett in Leinstrand. There was also a political consensus that some of the money generated by the system should be used to improve public transport in the city. Some environmental projects in the area also benefit from the toll income.

More than twenty toll booths were built, closing off all approaches to the city. It was impossible for anybody driving a car to get in for free weekdays between 6am and 6pm. The charge was NOK 15 for cars and 30 for trucks. The systems has been designed to be user friendly through AutoPASS technology developed by the local company Q-Free, involving a radio-transmitted registration of passing cars, allowing cars to pass the toll booths at 60 km/h (but at most toll booths the speed limit was 50 km/h). All the driver need to do is fit a little plastic device to the windscreen of the car. This communicates with the toll booth when the car passes through, deducting money from the user's account. Those who (intentionally or by negligence) passes a toll booth without an operating toll device (or paying manually where possible) are subject to a fine. Motorists using a toll device are eligible to a toll discount.

The toll ring was not juridically considered a road pricing scheme, since the income from the tolls goes to road infrastructure. To be considered a road pricing in accordance to Norwegian law the scheme must be organised such as to charge most when the congestion is largest, i.e. in rush hour. Secondly a road pricing scheme cannot primarily finance road investments, but must go either to public transport subsidies or to infrastructure for public transport and pedestrians and bicycles.

The system was initially introduced to fund the building of new ring roads so that the heaviest traffic would not have to pass through the city centre. But part of the reason for this traffic is that Trondheim Port is located on an artificial island only accessible via the city centre and Trondheim has yet to do like most cities and move its port out of the city centre, like the London Docklands and Fjordbyen in Oslo. There are ongoing discussions on whether the port should be moved from its current location. The lack of a bypass outside the residential areas, along with less than optimal railroad capacity; also contributes to the heavy road traffic trough the municipality.