Integrated Motorways Toll Schemes in the Italian Region of Lombardy

This paper reports the outcomes of a study that investigated the feasibility of applying integrated motorways toll schemes in the Italian region of Lombardy. The current situation in this region, as in the rest of national territory, is that different tolls are applied on different infrastructures just because tolls have been agreed with concessionaires (and sometimes with local authorities) in different times and in different circumstances. New infrastructures are planned in Lombardy according to project financing schemes and the tolls envisioned for such new motorways bring additional heterogeneity. The study focuses on a set of different issues (from the: legal, regulatory, economic, and financial points of view), as well as on the actions to be undertaken in order to introduce toll schemes that may be considered “optimal”. The expression “optimal toll” refers to a solution which is better than others according to not only economic and financial considerations, but also to environmental issues, transport related matters (such as levels of service, travel times), and fairness problems towards the users of the road network.