There Foothills it’s complete. And the game on the motorways in Veneto looks to the future. The appointment for the opening of the A4 graft a Montecchioin the Vicenza area, is for May 3rd at 11am. It is the last piece to make the Venetian foothill highway entirely passable, 95 kilometers that cut through the provinces of Vicenza and Treviso, costing 2.2 billion euros, of which 1.5 came from private individuals, to which were added 615 million from the State and 300 from the Region. And the last piece is decisive on several fronts, in the motorway risk in Veneto.
Sustainability
First of all with respect to the financial sustainability of the Pedemontana. The picture here is clear and restated on the eve of the opening. In essence the Region pays a canon to the builder Sis of 300 million a year and collects tolls. This has so far proved to be a drain on regional coffers: 63 million in revenue in 2023 and 80 million expected in 2024 based on traffic in the first months, according to the numbers put forward by the regional councilor of the Democratic Party, Andrea Zanoniwhich feared the risk of accumulation of the passive on regional coffers, due to insufficient traffic, also due to the high tolls.
The remodulation of tariffs is at stake
The Region’s response is based precisely on the fact that the assessment of traffic and revenue can only be done a Pedemontana completedwhile the flow of vehicles increases: the 8,900 Average daily vehicles in January 2023 exceeded 14,000 in March. What the Region is aiming for now is that with the highway fully accessible, the Pedemontana becomes alternative real toA4 clogged, rising towards the 21 thousand average vehicles per month which marks economic equilibrium. To the point that there would also be one at stake in the Region remodulation from the rates on the Pedemontana, which would aim to reduce the prices of tariffs from toll booth to toll booth for light vehicles, if anything increasing those of heavy vehicles.
Towards a regional tariff?
In short, with the opening of traffic we are going to “see” on this front. The underlying idea of the Region is that the two lanes of the Pedemontana become the fourth and fifth of the A4 Brescia-Padova, draining traffic. Passage not taken for granted, if the difference in fares between the two toll roads remains the current one. But it is no coincidence that the Region built its own around the full entry into operation of the Pedemontana project of a average regional ratealready explained by the Councilor for Infrastructure, Elisa De Berti, which would rebalance traffic flows on the existing motorway network, eliminating the need for the fourth lane advanced from Brescia-Padua, owned by Benetton’s Mundys, via the Spanish Abertis.
Cav in house
A plan that is fully in focus, if you look at it through the lenses of the regional project on the Brescia-Padua concession, expiring in 2026, which instead of going to tender the State transfers to Cavthe Regione-Anas joint venture that manages the Passante di Mestre, is being transformed into a company in house. And on this too, the inauguration, the day after tomorrow, could prove interesting, given that the presidents of the Region and of Brescia-Padova are announced at the ribbon cutting, Luca Zaia and Gonzalo Alcaldethe latter accompanied by its general director, Bruno Chiari.
The bills
In the meantime, Cav’s 2023 accounts must be registered, approved on April 30th at the shareholders’ meeting: profit of 31.8 million euros, +30% compared to 24.6 in 2022, with revenues of 157 million euros, 4 more than in 2022 (+2.5%). Increase in profits, driven by both due to the growth of trafficwhich went from 73 million vehicles transited in 2022 to 76 in 2023, but also to check of the costs. With the company led by the president Monica Manto and by the ad Maria Rosaria Campitelli which has liquidity, “as of 31 December 2023, of 195.2 million to meet the commitments undertaken”.
