A13 Flux Libre

How can motorways evolve and meet the new challenges of society? Free-flow motorways are a real response to the need for fluidity on a heavily trafficked route and for modernisation towards sustainable mobility. Successfully deployed in many countries, customers will now be able to travel at the authorised speed, without slowing down or stopping to pay the toll.

Arnaud Quémard

Today, our role is no longer simply to create new infrastructures, but to imagine how to develop our motorways in order to contribute to the ecological transition, to respond to new consumption standards and to the expectations of a cleaner mobility.

Arnaud Quémard, General Director of the Sanef Group

How does the Free Flow technology work?

Free-flow technology allows users to use the entire motorway route without physical barriers, thanks to gantries that allow vehicles to be detected and identified without reducing their speed. 
In concrete terms, on the Paris-Normandy route?

  • Metal frames or "gantries" spanning the roadway will be installed along the route. This will allow customers to pay directly at the toll booth without having to stop there.
  • These gantries equipped with intelligent sensors detect each vehicle and identify its category (light vehicle, heavy vehicle, etc.) thanks to devices that calculate its volume, profile and number of axles. These sensors are connected to each other and cover all the lanes of the motorway: the precise location of the vehicle on the road, photos of the number plates, whatever the traffic conditions (nominal, lane change, congestion, etc.).
  • Antennas will be used to detect the electronic toll tag of Bip&go customers at 130km/h (for light vehicles) or 90km/h (for heavy goods vehicles) as is currently the case on the 30km/h and 50km/h electronic toll lanes.

 

There are several ways to pay your way:

  • Automatically during the journey: For customers who do not have a Télépéage badge, it will be possible to record the vehicle's number plate on the site, in order to regulate its passage automatically.
  • After the journey: Those who wish to do so will be able to pay for their journey afterwards, on the website or by telephone within 72 hours of the journey, by indicating the number plate. Customers will also be able to pay for their journey at reception points, available at service areas and in a network of partners.

How does the Free Flow Highway work?

What are the benefits for customers?

Free Flow is a major step forward in improving the journey for our customers:

  • more fluid: no need to stop to adjust your passage. A real time saver in periods of heavy traffic, particularly during long weekends or major holiday departures
  • more responsible: less fuel consumed in journeys, less CO2 emissions into the atmosphere
  • simpler: a single payment instead of at each toll station
  • more security: less stress in finding the right lane when approaching the tollbooth and choosing your payment method.

An ambitious project, supported by all the Group's employees

The transformation of the A13-A14 motorway into a free-flow motorway is a global and cross-functional project that involves the entire Sanef group. It is an ambitious project, which the group is proud of and committed to in order to respond even better to its public service mission. The free-flow motorway offers a new and easier travel experience that will result in a more personalised customer relationship.  

  • New, more diversified jobs (manual verification of licence plates, information on the system, customer assistance for payment, collection, etc.)
  • Continuing the digital transformation of our Group
  • Better working conditions: no more night work for a better work-life balance, no more outdoor work for better safety, etc. In order to evolve in these new jobs with confidence, employees will benefit from training and personalised support in order to be operational on the day of commissioning.

Free Flow Motorway on our network