Mexican Official Standard: design of toll booths on highways

Galicia - On May 9th, 2025, the Federal Government’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes, "SICT", per its acronym in Spanish) published in the Federal Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación, "DOF", per its acronym in Spanish) the Mexican Official Standard NOM-033-SCT2-2024, "Design of toll booths on highways. Road safety criteria" (the "NOM").

The main provisions of the NOM are:

• Purpose. The purpose of the NOM is to establish general criteria for the location and design of toll booths. The NOM outlines specifications for geometric elements, signage, safety devices, and lighting, and seeks to promote the use of electronic toll systems to improve operational efficiency. This aims to (i) safeguard the safety of individuals, vehicles, and components of toll booths on concessioned highways, and (ii) reduce user wait times due to their impact on road safety.
• Scope. The NOM is mandatory for concessioned federal and state highways; urban roads are excluded from its scope.
• Responsible authorities. The authorities responsible for ensuring compliance with the NOM are: (i) for federal concessions, the SICT, through the General Directorates of Highway Development and Technical Services, and (ii) for state concessions, the state authorities responsible for designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining concessioned highways and their toll booths.
• Concessionaires’ obligations. Key obligations include (i) toll booth location: booths must be designed to provide a safe space for drivers to choose a lane, wait, pay, and merge back into traffic, with entry and exit transition zones allowing for smooth lane changes; (ii) dimensions: booths and toll lanes must meet specific height and width requirements; (iii) electronic tolling: exclusive electronic toll lanes must be included, with contingency plans in case of system failure; (iv) signage: specific signage must be provided regarding both distances to certain points and visual characteristics; (v) safety devices: impact attenuators and barriers must be installed on traffic islands to protect booths and users from out-of-control vehicles.
• Effective date. The NOM will become effective 180 (one hundred and eighty) calendar days after its publication in the DOF, that is, on November 5th , 2025. Therefore:

1. New Projects. Projects developed after the NOM comes into force regarding toll booths on highways must comply with it, and
2. Existing Projects. For existing toll booths and projects authorized before the NOM takes effect, the competent authority and the concessionaire must agree, case by case, on the necessary modifications for those toll booths to comply with the NOM, as well as the manner and timeline for implementing such modifications. This must be done in accordance with the applicable laws and the relevant concession titles