Ohio Turnpike to fire up E-ZPass Oct 1 - filling last gap in IAG network

Ohio Turnpike Commission will fire up their first electronic toll system October 1, and the E-ZPass Inter Agency Group (IAG) will be able to boast a continuous interoperable toll system from Maine to southern Virginia and from Boston harbor and Rhode Island to west of Chicago. With Ohio, all the major state toll agencies now have electronic tolling, a process that started when the Texas Turnpike Authority (now North Texas Tollway Authority) had Amtech (now TransCore) operate the country's first electronic toll system, brandnamed TollTag on the Dallas North Tollway from Jun 19 1989. (The world's first use of electronic tolling was in Bergen Norway in 1986.)

E-ZPass was formed in 1990 by the seven toll agencies of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania with the aim of developing an interoperable system in which the one transponder would be used to pay tolls on any member toll facility. The first E-ZPass electronic toll was taken at the Spring Valley Toll Plaza of New York State Thruway Aug 3 1993.

From there it grew. Not easily, or quickly. From the first Dallas North Tollway deployment to Ohio Turnpike has been 20 years and three months.

As of recent months IAG boasts 25 tollers in 14 states with 10 million account holders using over 18 million transponders on some 48 toll roads, bridges and tunnels. They constitute 80% of the toll collections in the US. IAG electronic tolling is doing 67% of the toll transactions of member toll agencies.  Only a few US-Canada toll bridges remain without electronic tolling.

A couple of tollers use E-ZPass IAG standard equipment from Mark IV - Greenville Southern Connector and Cross Island Parkway South Carolina and Ambassador Bridge, Detroit Windsor - but are not members of the IAG, and so are not interoperable or part of the IAG network clearing house.

North Carolina might, or might not, join E-ZPass IAG. Their procurement for tollroads just starting construction is under way.

James Crawford executive-director of the Inter Agency group gave us this statement: "The E-ZPass members look forward to the Ohio Turnpike accepting E-ZPass. All our customers will benefit from completion of this 'Missing Link' in the overall network.  I want to congratulate the Commissioners and staff of the OTC (Ohio Turnpike Commission) for bringing this forward as planned."

On IAG http://www.e-zpassiag.com/

history of electronic tolling:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/153

Ohio Turnpike setting up Ohio E-ZPass accounts Aug 17

Ohio Turnpike Commission say their E-ZPass webpage for opening an account online will be available by Aug 17. The Commission will not charge any upfront fee for the transponder but will require a starting balance of $25.

The transponder will be paid out of a 75c/month E-ZPass fee.

On October 1 toll rates will remain the same as now for those with E-ZPass accounts, whether Ohio E-ZPass, or other IAG. But cash toll rates will be around 46% higher for cars and 38% higher for other vehicles.

New axle based classes

Another big change on Oct 1 for trucks will be substitution of an axle-based classification for the gross weight ranges now used to class vehicles.

Being dumped is an old IBM system of weigh-in-motion that was only instituted on the Pennsylvania and Ohio turnpikes. It works poorly at more than 15km/h, 10mph or so. And it is inconsistent with vehicle classes used elsewhere. Pennsylvania is also abandoning the weight classes for axle counts, and currently has a mix.

There will be seven classes, a combination of axle count and height. This compares with eleven classes under the old system.

Ohio Turnpike is friendly to triples and long double trailers.

In the conversion contractors have added asnd modernized treadles. Vehicles are still being weighed and some scales have been modernized, although weight is no longer the basis for classification.

Scales are being kept for enforcement purposes - to detect and deter overweight vehicles and help preserve pavement.

Ohio Turnpike remains a lane-based, gated toll system that tolls by trip requiring a match of entry and exit details to compute the toll. Ticket machines remain for cashpayers the ticket recording the time and place of entry to be handed to the toll collector on exit.

The gates keep speeds down allowing treadles to be used with high accuracy.

On most new toll systems electromagnetic loops supported by signal processing software are used to count axles because treadles performance drops off with the speed of passing vehicles.  Since Ohio Turnpike has no highspeed lanes treadles are most cost-effective.

The conversion covers 229 toll lanes at two mainline toll plazas at the ends of the Turnpike and some 31 side toll plazas at interchanges.

Jacobs have been project consultants and managers for the project. Contractor is TransCore. Readers and transponders of course are supplied by the IAG contract supplier, Mark IV. Treadles are from TRMI.

Project cost for the conversion is around $50m. The project is somewhat ahead of schedule and on budget.

http://www.ohioturnpike.org/ezpass/faq/

TOLLROADSnews 2009-08-12 ADDITIONS CHANGES 2009-08-13 12:00