The toll road celebrates its first year with zero fatal accidents
Traffic has increased by 35% since January
Over 14,000 vehicles per day use the toll road between Madrid and Ocaña
The Radial 4 road between Madrid and Ocaña, managed by a consortium headed by Cintra, has completed its first year with over five million transits. Traffic grew 34% between the road´s opening and December 2004. Performance has been similar since January 2005 (+35%). Since opening on 7 April 2004, the toll road has not registered any fatal accidents.
An average of over 425,000 vehicles per month and over 14,000 per day use this toll road as an alternative to the A-4 highway. Since the road´s opening, the migration towards electronic payment has been significant: the percentage of cash payments has fallen from 70% in April 2004 to 53% in March 2005 as users switched to the Vía-T electronic toll system, which is compatible with all the toll roads in Spain.
The heaviest traffic on the R-4 was on 23 March 2005, when it registered 48,660 vehicles. The previous record had been set on 3 December 2004, with 42,537 vehicles. There was also heavy traffic on 27 March (47,522 vehicles) and 28 March (44,220). Those dates coincided with the Easter holiday.
Safety and environmental actions
The safety record in the first year is good: zero fatalities. The R-4 was designed in compliance with the demanding road safety requirements.
During construction of the toll road, several environmental actions were performed, including protection of the lesser kestrel (obtaining a plot for its feeding and constructing a nesting area to ensure the species” continuation in the area) and measures to offset the effects on gypsicola vegetation, restoration of gravel pits and spray plantation.
Decongestion of the A-4 highway
The Radial 4 road between Madrid and Ocaña was created in order to alleviate the heavy traffic on the A-4 highway. Running parallel to the A-4 highway, the Radial 4 toll road is a fast, safe route for long-haul traffic between Madrid and Southern Spain and for traffic to and from the towns near the A-4.
The 54-kilometre R-4 road starts on the M-50 ring road and ends in Ocaña. The R-4 passes by Getafe, Pinto, Parla, Valdemoro, Seseña, Torrejón de Velasco, Aranjuez, Ontígola, Dos Barrios and Ocaña.
Toll roads in Spain, Europe, Canada and the US
Cintra is one of the world´s leading private-sector developers of transport infrastructure, with a committed investment of 1.7 billion euro in 17 toll roads, in Europe, Canada and the US. Cintra manages eight toll roads in Spain.
In January 2005, Cintra began to construct the Madrid-East Coast toll road between Ocaña and La Roda, which is a direct continuation of the R-4. Both toll roads will make up a 212-kilometre corridor between Madrid and La Roda, providing an alternative to the current A-3 highway between Central and Eastern Spain.
NOTE: Transit is understood as each time a vehicle passes a toll plaza along the road.
