Urban toll for les Arcs

This season anyone wanting to visit les Arcs 1800 will, baring legal challenges, have to pass through a turnpike. Drivers staying for longer than 3 hours will have to pay a fee to leave. The resort has built a car-park for 70 cars at the entrance to the resort but this is aimed largely at season workers.

The “welcoming door” as the new Mayor calls it, has cost 900 000€. Despite being part of the new Mayor, Damien Perry’s election manifesto it has angered local residents who claim it is against their right of free movement. Although toll motorways are the norm in France public opinion is against taxing urban roads.

Owners will be able to buy a season pass for 100€ however those that only spend a couple of weeks a year in their property say they will be penalized. The Mayor thinks it is all a storm in a teacup and points out they could have put in place parking meters or even not bothered clearing the snow in certain areas to force drivers into car parks. He sees it as normal that tourists contribute towards the maintenance of the roads, a charge that has previously fallen on ratepayers. He also suggests that people, especially residents of Bourg St Maurice, use the monorail to Arc 1600. Locals have replied that the car park at Bourg will also be payable from this season. The 2500 members of the residents association are hoping to get the worked stopped by the Administrative Court in Grenoble. Far from the turnpike being a welcoming door they see it as yet another psychological barrier for financially pressed skiers to come to the resort.

Mayor Perry sees this as just a first step, with toll booths being installed at Arc 1600 and Arc 2000 and that will mean ski tourers may have to pay a fee for the traditional end of season route of Mont Pourri accessible from Arc 2000.