Almada Drivers Rally to Scrap Costly Toll Gantry

Every weekday, thousands leaving Charneca da Caparica tap their Via-Verde only to watch a few more cents disappear. The small pórtico at Quinta da Queimada, on the link between the A33 and the IC32, has turned into a lightning rod for commuters, sparking a fast-growing petition that demands an end to the toll. With no realistic detour, residents say the fee has morphed into a stealth tax on simply getting to work in Almada or Lisbon.

Quick Glance

• 2,463 signatures gathered by 22 December and climbing fast

• Goal of 7,500 names triggers debate in Parliament

• Pórtico serves overwhelmingly local traffic, not holidaymakers

• Left out of the 2025 ex-SCUT toll eliminations

• Average tolls elsewhere may rise 1.97 % this year

Why the fee stings for South-Bank drivers

The interchange functions less like a gateway to the Algarve and more like a neighbourhood roundabout, channelling school runs, supermarket trips and the daily trek to Lisbon’s workplaces. Residents, local businesses, delivery vans, ride-sharing drivers, even municipal vehicles are funneled through the same gantry, paying for the privilege each time. Traffic studies cited by campaigners point to “thousands of vehicles” per day, a volume that underlines how deeply the charge is woven into household budgets. When rent, groceries and energy bills are all edging up, an extra euro or two both ways can feel oppressive, critics argue.

Grass-roots campaign gains momentum

Launched on 1 December by the Grupo dos Amigos da Charneca de Caparica e Sobreda (GACCS), the online petition raced past the 2,000-signature mark in barely three weeks. Organisers have set up information stalls outside cafés, shared QR codes on social media and persuaded local shops to display flyers. Teachers, nurses, back-office IT staff, and retirees living on fixed incomes have all lent their names, insisting that a road serving mostly the parish should not be priced like a long-haul motorway. The mounting scroll of digital signatures is more than symbolic: under parliamentary rules, 7,500 supporters oblige MPs to place the matter on the plenary agenda.

The interchange that fell through the cracks

Law 37/2024, approved last summer, wiped tolls from a slew of former SCUT corridors — the A4, A13, A22, A23, A24, A25 and parts of the A28 — from 1 January 2025. Yet the Quinta da Queimada portal, managed by the Lusoponte/Ascendi consortium under a different concession, was not on the list. The omission has fuelled accusations of territorial inequity: why, ask Almada councillors, should the North and Interior shed their charges while the Setúbal Peninsula keeps adding to its cost of living? The concessionaire, for its part, notes that contracts allow a yearly tariff update tied to inflation — an adjustment projected to average 1.97 % in 2026 — but has offered no hint of waivers for local users.

Counting the euros and the ripple effects

Back-of-the-envelope maths suggest a two-car household crossing the gantry twice a day pays roughly €45 a month, or more than €500 a year. That may equal a half-month’s rent for a T2 in Sobreda, petitioners point out. Beyond wallets, campaigners warn of other knock-ons: drivers trying to dodge the fee cut through residential lanes, ramping up noise, pollution and minor accidents. Small enterprises — from carpenters who shuttle between worksites to cafés that rely on lunchtime trade from across the IC32 — say the toll chips away at already slim margins.

What happens next?

If the petition reaches its threshold, a formal hearing in São Bento could place uncomfortable questions before the Infrastructure Minister: Will the government negotiate a local-use exemption, buy out the concession, or let the status quo ride? Municipal leaders in Almada have already voted for a motion urging Lisbon to act, arguing that southern commuters are being "taxed to cross the river". For now the gantry’s green laser continues to blink, counting every vehicle and every cent — and every fresh signature added to the call for change.