Maine Turnpike looking at open road tolling at New Gloucester plaza
Posted Sat, 2007-11-17 10:00
Maine Turnpike is doing its first open road tolling at the New Gloucester mainline plaza north of Portland. It will probably be a single lane each direction and most of the cash lanes on either side will be retained, a spokesman says. Preliminary estimate of the cost is $4m.
There is already a tunnel for toll collectors and other staff to move from one side to the other under the highspeed lanes. The existing barrier plaza has ten toll lanes. They will probably keep three each direction for cash, but that's not decided.
Paul Violette the chief executive says he'd like to have it complete by 2009.
The greatest need for open road tolling is at the southern end of the Turnpike at the York barrier plaza. The Turnpike Authority has already decided it wants to do ORT there, probably three lanes each direction.
However the whole York toll plaza needs to be relocated and rebuilt. The old one built as a temporary one in the late 1960s is in poor shape and sight lines to it are bad - it's in a depression. But locating an acceptable place for a new one is difficult. A full public consultation and environmental review process is needed. Cost of the whole York plaza rebuild is put at $35m. An opening before about 2011 seems unlikely.
Big savings in going cashless!
About half the revenue of the Maine Turnpike now comes from electronic tolls. Maine is part of the E-ZPass program.
HNTB are engineering consultants to the Turnpike.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-11-16
Maine Turnpike is doing its first open road tolling at the New Gloucester mainline plaza north of Portland. It will probably be a single lane each direction and most of the cash lanes on either side will be retained, a spokesman says. Preliminary estimate of the cost is $4m.There is already a tunnel for toll collectors and other staff to move from one side to the other under the highspeed lanes. The existing barrier plaza has ten toll lanes. They will probably keep three each direction for cash, but that's not decided.
Paul Violette the chief executive says he'd like to have it complete by 2009.
The greatest need for open road tolling is at the southern end of the Turnpike at the York barrier plaza. The Turnpike Authority has already decided it wants to do ORT there, probably three lanes each direction.
However the whole York toll plaza needs to be relocated and rebuilt. The old one built as a temporary one in the late 1960s is in poor shape and sight lines to it are bad - it's in a depression. But locating an acceptable place for a new one is difficult. A full public consultation and environmental review process is needed. Cost of the whole York plaza rebuild is put at $35m. An opening before about 2011 seems unlikely.
Big savings in going cashless!
About half the revenue of the Maine Turnpike now comes from electronic tolls. Maine is part of the E-ZPass program.
HNTB are engineering consultants to the Turnpike.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-11-16