Ljubljana to get dynamic speed management by summer

Slovenia's motorway operator DARS posted a record €583 million in revenue last year, a 7% increase on the year before as tolling revenue went up by 5%. Net profit rose by 6% to €153 million.

Presenting the figures at a press conference in Ljubljana, management board member David Skornšek said the growth was driven by higher tolling revenue as a result of increased traffic, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

Revenue generated through electronic tolling was up by 5% to €534 million, the bulk of which from truck tolling, where revenue was up by 3% to €275 million.

Revenue from e-vignette sales was up 7% to €241 million. The company sold 8.8 million vignettes, of which 5.6 million were seven-day vignettes, considered to be used predominantly by tourists.

The company also issued 84,000 fines, of which more than half were issued to foreigners, while in 11,000 cases drivers were let off with a warning, Skornšek said.

The tunnel toll paid on crossing the Karavanke tunnel, one of the key border crossings with Austria, brought in an additional €18 million, a figure on a par with the year before.

Talking about ongoing projects, DARS chairman Andrej Ribič said they expected the second tube of the border Karavanke tunnel to open to traffic in spring 2026. A multi-year renovation of the existing tube will follow, which is due to be completed by 2029.

The company's key efforts this year include a dynamic speed management project on the Ljubljana ring road aimed at increasing the flow of traffic and mitigating congestion.

"We'll start with speed limits approximately 20 kilometres before the Ljubljana ring road, adjusting speed to traffic density, hence allowing congestion to be less severe and traffic flow better," Ribič said. The project is due to be launched mid-summer.

In a bid to further mitigate traffic jams in the Ljubljana area, DARS also plans to open a new motorway entry slip road at Dragomer this year.