A shadow toll is a contractual payment made by a government per driver using a road to a private company that operates a road built or maintained using private finance initiative funding.
[1] Payments are based, at least in part, on the number of vehicles using a section of road, often over a 20- to 30-year period.
[4] The use of shadow tolls in the UK has reduced over time with PFI funded project payments being made based primarily on the availability of the road, and not on the number of vehicles using it.
[3] The World Bank observes that transaction costs 'can be very high' due to the difficulties surrounding legal arrangements and the need for continuous vehicle counts and that use of shadow tolls has led to significant criticism in The Netherlands.
[5] The Portuguese government removed shadow tolls in 2004 after finding that "payment obligations in connection with the shadow toll system were not compatible with the need to spend on improving and maintaining the other national motorways".