Costa del Sol Mayors Unite in Urgent Push to Eliminate AP-7 Motorway Tolls Coastal leaders led by Marbella and Estepona are mounting collective pressure on central transport authorities to lift tolls and end relentless gridlock on the A-7 corridor. Coastal mayors across the western strip have issued a coordinated ultimatum to the central government in Madrid, demanding emergency tariff relief on the AP-7 toll motorway and accelerated funding for bottleneck bypasses along the overcrowded A-7 coastal road. The municipal leadership of Marbella, Estepona, and neighbouring towns argue that gridlock has reached an unsustainable boiling point for residents, commercial hauliers, and commuters. The movement gathered renewed momentum this week as town halls formally presented joint petitions urging transport chiefs to adopt temporary toll exemptions during peak commuting hours. Chronic Bottlenecks Paralyse Commuters Marbella Mayor Ángeles Muñoz pointed out that local motorists have shouldered decades of excessive congestion while the toll-paying alternative sits largely underutilised. Muñoz is pressing Madrid for an immediate third lane between San Pedro Alcántara and Puerto Banús, upgraded access ramps, and measures that would allow the parallel AP-7 to absorb daily commuter pressure. In Estepona, Mayor José María García Urbano condemned the ongoing lack of capital investment, highlighting urgent demands for new direct motorway access points via La Lobilla and the Cuesta de Ronda junction. The town halls maintain that working families and local delivery fleets should not face steep daily toll charges simply to bypass structural gridlock on the free coast road. Tariffs and the Coastal Rail Question Toll costs along the Fuengirola-to-Manilva run increase significantly during holiday and peak periods, pushing the price of a full journey close to €20. For daily workers travelling between Estepona, San Pedro, and Málaga capital, the charges represent an untenable financial penalty, driving traffic back onto the single-carriageway bottlenecks of the coastal highway. Regional leaders are also uniting behind the long-stalled coastal railway extension. With municipal populations swelling each season, town halls insist that lifting AP-7 tolls is the only immediate, cost-free lever Madrid can pull while multi-billion-euro railway studies crawl through administrative reviews.