Secretary of State says that traffic in the VCI can be resolved with public transport and disincentives to driving

The Deputy Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Frederico Francisco, considered this Friday that the traffic problem on Via de Cintura Interna (VCI), in Porto, can only be resolved by using public transport and discouraging driving.

“This is something that has been studied internationally, and there are countless examples at international level, and it is necessary to act in both ways simultaneously: strengthening the supply of public transport and also reducing capacity and reducing and discouraging road traffic itself”, he said Frederico Francisco to journalists.

For the governor, at the end of his duties, this is “the only way to contribute to the decongestion of the VCI”.

Questioned after signing the reopening protocol for the Leixões Line, Porto’s railway ring road that could be one of the alternatives to VCI transit, Frederico Francisco considered that “any and all investment in public transport in the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP), in particularly in access to the city of Porto, or to the surroundings of the city of Porto, contributes and helps to decongest the VCI”.

The new rail service will operate, in December, between Porto-Campanhã and Leça do Balio, with up to two trains per hour planned in the first phase that will serve the stops of Campanhã, Contumil, São Gemil, Hospital São João (new stop), São Mamede from Infesta, Arroteia (new stop next to Efacec) and Leça do Balio, departing from Ovar or Campanhã.

Frederico Francisco said that “VCI is a road that has its own problems” and “does not have a profile that is suitable for its proximity to the city center of Porto”, being “a classic case” in which “the road will always be occupied until be congested.”

For the Secretary of State, if “capacity is added to the road network, especially near the center, this capacity will always be exhausted because it is limited, to begin with, by the capacity of the streets in the city of Porto”.

“There’s no way around it,” he stressed.

In February, the current Government referred decisions on the reorganization of traffic on the Via de Cintura Interna (VCI) and adjacent roads to a next executive, after confirming that the mayor of Porto defended that the conditions to take them were met.

“The president of the Porto City Council believes that the conditions are met to move forward with changes to the VCI and informally informed the Deputy Secretary of State and Infrastructures of this. However, the decision to implement, or not, the aforementioned measures must be taken by the next Government”, can be read in a response from the Secretary of State for Infrastructure to Lusa, dated February 8th.

Lusa had questioned the office led by Frederico Francisco about the position of Porto’s mayor, Rui Moreira, reported by Porto Canal, in which he expressed himself “even convinced” that, this time, the changes planned in 2020 would be made.

In a working group created in 2020, 27 measures were proposed, based on three thematic areas: toll management, infrastructure improvements and their management.

The working group proposed a scenario, called G, which consisted of a tariff reduction on the last southern gateway of the A28, the introduction of a new gateway on the A28, south of the intersection with the A41, the elimination of the two existing gateways on the western section of the A4 and the introduction of a new gantry between the A4 (east) and the A3 (south section).

At the Municipal Assembly, the Aqui Há Porto! movement, which supports Rui Moreira, also presented a motion, which was approved, in which it urged the Government to exempt, for a trial period of one year, tolls on the A41-CREP.

The motion also urged the Deputy Secretary of State and Infrastructure to apply toll rates at the VCI “to all crossing traffic”, except “that which originates and ends in the city of Porto”.