It was confirmed this week, through data from a report by the Institute of Highway Infrastructures, that car traffic on Via do Infante fell by half, as early as last December, the first month of toll collection.
This very significant drop in traffic on Via do Infante was nothing new to anyone. Just as it is not new that a large part of this traffic has moved to National Road 125, with all the problems and constraints that this entails.
Furthermore, unlike the successive promises, the works on the EN125 have not been completed and, in some cases, it is not even known if they will ever progress… At the moment, the works are even stopped!
But not everything is bad. There are businesses that have prospered on the EN125: at least that of selling oranges by the side of the road… and that of prostitution.
The sale of oranges, at attractive prices, usually by their direct producers, can be seen in dozens of stalls, tents and vans parked by the side of the road, advertising prices on posters, which are often bilingual.
Equally visible is the announcement of other sales, in this case of prostitution. Especially in the area between the intersection of Fontainhas and Patã, you can see how showy girls proliferate there, selling their bodies next to the EN125. And in broad daylight, in plain sight.
The most curious thing is that, on my journeys along the EN125, I have seen GNR agents photographing and questioning the orange sellers… But I have never seen GNR agents questioning the prostitutes.
Perhaps the authorities haven't noticed yet, although the girls' tight red dresses are much more visible than the oranges…
Note: This is the text of my Thursday's chronicle on RUA FM radio, under the heading “I have Dito”, which can be heard in person. here
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