Tommy the li

Workers on the new Eastern Corridor toll road found a 3 month old baby golden eagle resting near one of their silt trap reservoirs late July. The li’l eagle soon named Tommy was too weak to fly off, so he was taken to a local bird shelter where he was restored to health during a four weeks stay. He was then released in hills near the Fremont Canyon where his parents were thought to have nested, and only minutes after his release, Tommy was spotted riding the canyon thermals with two adult eagles, presumably Mom & Dad.

Before releasing him he’d had a tag attached to his tail, not a toll tag, we are assured, but an animal tracking tag. But Tommy should be a toll road icon. His tag uses the same radio backscatter technology used in tolling. Indeed the pioneer of electronic tolling, Amtech of Dallas Texas gets its name from Animal Management TECHnologies, because those were once its main line of business.

The US Postal Service seems to have the golden eagle as its proprietary icon, but perhaps skilful patent artists and attorneys can do something distinct with Tommy. Flying effortlessly by with a little help from a toll road is what electronic tolling is supposed to be all about.