Florida Turnpike

Toll collectors at some plazas of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise are recording the license plates of all drivers who tender $20 and larger denomination bills. The Turnpike has been collecting a number of high quality counterfeits that aren't immediately caught as bogus.

Toll collectors are under instructions to record license plates of all vehicles of motorists tendering high denomination notes - either to catch offenders or deter them.

The procedure has been reducing plaza throughput somewhat.

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.

Florida Turnpike Mainline through the Orlando area is changing from being a longdistance highway to one with a heavy local traffic load. Tuesday night (Mar 7) the Turnpike Enterprise took away the barriers on the first wider segment between I-4 and FL528 aka Beachline West Expressway, about 7km (4.5 miles). It is now 4+4 lanes compared to the original 2+2 lanes going back to original construction in 1965.

Fitch Ratings have given Florida DOT a dream bond rating of 'AA-' on account of what they describe as the Turnpike Enterprise's "strong service area", their diversity of toll properties, their "track record of prudent and conservative project development and financial management," and their "proactive stance" toward raising tolls as needed.