On 24 January toll collection starts in Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg. A total of NOK 6.8 billion is to be collected. Just before collection was due to start, someone put a stick in the wheels for the toll project. At county road 118 near Kalnes in Sarpsborg, a toll station has been shelled. The incident probably happened over the weekend. One or more people have shot at this toll station. The vandalism agency has been reported to the police. Photo: Tobias Nordli / Bypakke Nedre Glomma Must be replaced The toll station must be replaced before it can be put into operation on 24 January. It will be expensive and affect motorists, says general manager Jostein Haug in Bypakke Nedre Glomma. – This means that we have to have new equipment installed. The equipment and the work cost money. We are talking about damages worth a few hundred thousand kroner, he says to news. General manager of Bypakke Nedre Glomma Jostein Haug takes a serious view of the vandalism to which the toll station has been subjected. Photo: Odd Skjerdal / news The money for new equipment and installation will be taken from the budget which will actually be used for new road projects. – If we have to spend more money on collecting the tolls, then there will be less left to carry out the projects that are planned. It is deeply regrettable and goes beyond all those who are waiting for better roads, whether it is for bicycles, cars or buses, he says. – Scary and sad Vegfinans, which is responsible for collecting tolls, has reported the relationship to the police. Haug says that a number of shots have been fired at the toll station. – For the project, this is both terrifying and sad. So it is quite serious that vandalism is carried out at perfectly legally set up toll stations in this way, he says. The toll station that was shelled is located just off the E6 at Kalnes in Sarpsborg. Photo: Odd Skjerdal / news Vandalism at toll stations has also happened elsewhere in the country in the past. Among other things, five toll stations were subjected to vandalism in Rogaland in 2018. In a number of cases, politicians and employees of toll companies have also been subjected to incitement and threats. Has received threats At the latest last week, Fredriksstad Blad could tell that the bomb chip company Skyttelpass has received a number of hate messages, after they created a post on Facebook to present themselves in Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad. – We have been involved in the introduction of tolls in Ålesund in 2022 and Tromsø in 2023, but have not experienced anything similar to what we are now seeing in Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg, says Skyttelpass manager Vidar Raa to the newspaper. Raa himself received an e-mail directly to himself where the sender wrote “Hope you are maimed in a car accident”. Shortly after the newspaper published the message, Raa was contacted by the sender with an apology.
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Toll station in Sarpsborg shot to pieces before the opening of the toll ring in Nedre Glomma – news Østfold – Local news, TV and radio
