all-electronic tolling

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is keen to move quickly to get a "pilot" project for all-electronic tolling (AET) running on the Turnpike. In a radio interview this week he mentioned the possibility of "tests" of all-electronic tolling at the Turnpike's interchange with MA128 (I-95) and also on the Tobin Bridge.

Massachusetts DOT is seeking a new Deputy Director of Statewide Tolling to "transition existing toll collection operations to Open Road Tolling or All Electronic Tolling.”  The move reported first by Hilary Chabot at the Boston Herald pays up to $102k/yr and is open only to state employees.

The tolling deputy director would also assess installation costs, savings from eliminating toll collectors, and likely traffic improvements from free-flow all-electronic tolling.

The Boston Herald reports that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and his transportation  secretary Jeffrey Mullan met Jan 28 with Raytheon officials to hear their pitch on the potential for all-electronic tolling (AET).

All-electronic tolling (AET) is being vigorously argued over in Maine as an alternative to an approx-$50 million plaza with open road tolling in the center and cash lanes to the sides (ORT + cash).

The last toll collector in Colorado handed in their coin tray for the last time 10pm Dec 31 as the Northwest Parkway went cashless with all-electronic tolling. The parkway's big sister E470 went cashless in the first half of 2009, and the last cash was collected July 3. I-25 HOT Lanes operated by Colorado DOT have always been cashless.

At last Delaware is moving to break the worst traffic bottleneck on the east coast - the Newark DE toll plaza on the I-95 Turnpike.

Port Authority New York New Jersey could abandon cash toll collection in 2012 on present planning. They would be the first big bridge and tunnel authority to implement all-electronic tolling (AET) in the US and one of the first in the world after the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia which went all-electronic in January this year. (CORRECTION SEE END) So far most of the cashless tolling has been on toll roads.

HEFT, the busiest tollroad in Florida with an average 460k transactions/day and point flows of up to 175k AADT is going cashless in the spring of 2011. The first construction contracts for toll equipment gantries and other civil works have just been let - $33m worth.

North Texas Tollway Authority on the President George Bush Turnpike and E470 Public Highway Authority in Denver CO will cease all cash toll collection this week. The conversions to all-electronic tolling (AET) will be very differently conducted.

Legislation has been passed in Washington state that allows two huge toll projects to proceed in the Seattle metro area - state route 520 (WA520) floating bridge replacement and state route 99 (WA99) Alaskan Way toll tunnel. Washington state department of transportation (WSDOT) plan to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for a 520 toll system and customer service.

Miami Dade Expressway Authority are negotiating contracts with Electronic Transaction Consultants (ETC) for a radical conversion to all electronic tolling (AET).

US secretary of transportation Mary Peters this week called for the toll industry association IBTTA to work for the elimination of all toll booths in the US by 2014. The last ones "should be sent to the Smithsonian (Museum)," she said.

Tollers in Central Texas are using a novel kind of flyer to get out the message about the end of cash tolling - scratch cards. The cards offer free transponder toll miles as prizes in an effort to publicize and recruit new transponder users. Over 80% of transactions on their 183A tollroad northwest of Austin are already by TxTag sticker tag transponders, but they want to boost that number further by December 1 when remaining cash lanes are closed for good.

E470 tollroad in the eastern part of Denver CO will become fully electronic and cease cash toll collection July 4 2009.They've coined the term 'Non Stop Tolling' for all-electronic toll collection. First stage of the process will be introduction of camera tolling brandnamed 'License Plate Toll' on Jan 1 2009 under which motorists without transponders will be allowed to whiz through the highspeed electronic toll lanes previously reserved to those with transponders.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is charging ahead with procurement of toll systems for I-80. They have just issued an request for proposals (RFP) with a deadline just five weeks away. No prebid meetings and qualifying of contractors, just a deadline for questions of Aug 15, and then bids due Sept 15.

"This is a real fast track," said one toll systems guy we asked about it.

Miami Dade Expressway Authority's (MDX) procurement of a cashless toll system planned to begin procurement early September will ask for an option to take over customer service from Florida Turnpike Enterprise's SunPass, says Steve Andriuk, director of operations. Our earlier report - without the benefit of a conversation with Andriuk - said handling of transponder transactions would remain with FTE's SunPass.

Jordi Graells managing director of Abertis the majority equity holder in the Abertis-Cit partnership selected by the Governor of Pennsylvania for a longterm lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike said today they will be moving very cautiously on all-electronic tolling. At a minimum he said it would be ten years.

All-electronic tolling (AET), also called 'cashless' would eliminate all toll collector jobs.

The New York State Thruway Authority will be hiring consultants soon to study the costs and benefits of different toll collection modes including all-electronic tolling (AET), also known as cashless. The announcement was made not in any board decision, or in a press release, or in any presentation to an IBTTA conference, and there's no RFP yet. But a reader pointed out to us a pair of postings that have just popped up on the NYSTA website.

The Port Authority of New York New Jersey (PANYNJ) is hiring help in planning the move to cashless all-electronic tolling (AET). They recently chose consulting firms for two multi-year contracts to design and plan the radical change in the way tolls are collected, and a senior officer is about to be appointed as AET project manager.

All-electronic tolling has been picked up by protesters in the fight over the rebuild of the York mainline toll plaza in southern Maine. Using pictures of 407ETR in Toronto, they produced a one-page flyer headed The Better Way: All-Electronic Tolling. (DISCLOSURE: those involved picked up some of the information from TOLLROADSnews and we had some emails back and forth. But the flyer is their work.)