Portugal Sets a Weekday Ban on Heavy Goods Lorries Across Porto's Congested VCI, Routing Freight to the Toll-Free CREP
Heavy goods lorries will be barred from Porto's VCI inner ring road on weekdays from 07:00 to 21:00, with freight steered onto the toll-free CREP (A41) outer ring. Announced by Minister António Leitão Amaro, the measure takes effect in the second half of 2026.
Porto is preparing one of the most significant changes to its road network in years: a weekday ban on heavy goods lorries along the VCI (Via de Cintura Interna — the inner ring road), the chronically congested motorway that loops through the city and across the Douro to Vila Nova de Gaia.
Under the measure, veículos pesados de mercadorias (heavy goods vehicles) will be barred from the VCI on working days between 07:00 and 21:00. Freight will instead be pushed onto the CREP (Circular Regional Exterior do Porto — the A41 outer ring road), whose tolls are being waived to absorb the diverted traffic.
Why now
The VCI is, by common admission, Portugal's worst traffic bottleneck — a road with no real equivalent elsewhere in the country, frequently choked at peak hours, with goods traffic a major contributor. The government's stated aim is to “reinforce the quality of life” of those who move around the city and the wider region by clearing through-freight off the inner ring.
The plan was announced by António Leitão Amaro, the Minister of the Presidency (Ministro da Presidência), and has been coordinated with the Câmara Municipal do Porto (Porto City Council) and the Área Metropolitana do Porto (Porto Metropolitan Area), whose president and city mayor, Pedro Duarte, has long pressed for lorries to be kept off the VCI at busy times.
How it will work
A working group studied two options to thin the traffic — installing toll gantries on the VCI itself, or an outright ban on heavy vehicles — and settled on the prohibition. Crucially, the alternative route is being sweetened: tolls on the CREP/A41 are being suspended during the relevant hours, so that hauliers are not simply charged for being moved off the free inner ring.
Enforcement will lean on technology. Authorities are developing a monitoring system to detect heavy vehicles on the VCI and, importantly, to distinguish lorries genuinely serving the city from those merely using it as a north–south through-route. A set of exceptions — for certain local deliveries and services — is being written into the rules.
Not everyone is convinced
The VCI straddles two municipalities, and across the river Vila Nova de Gaia has pushed back, rejecting the new rule and criticising what it called the added “bureaucratic burden” on operators. The measure, studied since 2025, is due to take effect in the second half of 2026.
For commuters, the promise is a freer-flowing ring road at rush hour. For hauliers, it means longer trips around the city's edge — toll-free, but slower — and a new layer of rules to navigate. Whether the VCI finally breathes will depend on how much freight the outer ring can swallow, and how rigorously the cameras police the switch.
