Stuck on the highway because of the snow, they had to pay the toll

© ASF VINCI / Jean Philippe MOULET

Thursday evening, the A36 was transformed into a huge parking lot near Montbéliard. Due to heavy snowfall, hundreds of drivers found themselves stranded, some for more than eight hours. This is particularly the case of Nadia, psychologist, who experienced a trying night, reports The Republican East this Saturday. Leaving Montbéliard at 6 p.m., she did not arrive at her home in Saône until 5:30 a.m. the next dayfor a journey normally completed in just over an hour.

«I was completely stationary in my car with no information for hours», she tells our colleagues. Convinced that the APRR highway companyresponsible for the section, would show understanding by raising the toll barriers, she quickly became disillusioned. “I thought they would have lifted the barriers at the Besançon center exit, but no! I had to pay a little more than 8 euros. I was simply advised to make a complaint“, she deplores, describing this situation as “shameful».

This mishap is not isolated. Friday morning, other motorists, stuck in the other direction near Dole, also had to pay the cost of their journey despite spending hours in traffic jams caused by snow. These incidents occur while the State plans to renegotiate highway concessions.

For some drivers, these events highlight a glaring lack of “soft skills» from motorway concessionaires. Nadia sums up the general feeling: “After such an ordeal, we would have hoped for a symbolic gesture, even if only to remove the barriers.” Faced with these criticisms, many voices are calling for integrate specific clauses in future motorway operating contracts to guarantee more respectful treatment of users in exceptional situations.