ORT

Maine Turnpike Authority's proposal for an open road toll (ORT) plus cash toll plaza gets editorial support this morning from the Portland Press-Herald, the major newspaper of the state.  The editorial writer picks up on the great reception ORT+cash got in the introductory test over the Memorial Day weekend at the Hampton toll plaza in New Hampshire. It's just 20 minutes south of the contentious toll plaza sites near York Maine.

Brian McGrory a columnist at the Boston Globe drives the I-95 New Hampshire Turnpike regularly and after experiencing open road tolling at the Memorial Day weekend, he's just blown away by the achievement. His column titled "Pay NH your toll, your respects" leads off: "I’m sorry, New Hampshire.

The last cash customer went through the old 17-lane mainline toll plaza of the FL924 Gratigny Parkway of the Miami Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) in Opa-Locka in the northwest suburbs of Miami at 11:57pm Sunday, paying the $1.25 cash toll for a car. As midnight approached workers began moving big red construction barrels in toward the central lanes to block off the 'belly-out/belly-in' of the old mainline plaza.

Tens of thousands of motorists traveling I-95 through New Hampshire this Memorial Day weekend experienced the joys of open road tolling. Bureau of Turnpikes administrator Chris Waszczuk told us in an interview today they are "delighted and proud" at how well the highway speed tolling worked, and how well it seems to have been received by motorists. He said toll system integrator Telvent had done an "excellent job" and the civil contractor also.

Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) will open their first open road toll (ORT) point next week, perhaps as early as Tuesday May 11.  This is at the I-78 bridge over the Delaware River, the busiest of seven toll bridges operated by DRJTBC between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Tolling is westbound only and the new facility provides two open road or Express E-ZPass toll lanes and four cash lanes.

Usually protest movements involve angry people at meetings, placard carrying picketers, a petition perhaps, two or three local politicians, and a rather predictable litany of narrowly cast complaints from an environmental group.

A study commissioned by the town of York in south Maine argues that all-electronic toll (AET) collection is both the most cost-effective and the most environmentally friendly solution to the longstanding dispute over a new 'gateway toll plaza' on the south end of the Maine Turnpike.

Conversion of I-80 at the Delaware River to open road tolling (ORT) is being delayed a bit. Announced last year for the end of May (Memorial Day) the schedule has slipped to the end of November (Thanksgiving).

The political battle over the design of Maine's southern toll plaza has seen the town of York hire their own toll system consultant to combat HNTB and the Maine Turnpike Authority. York mayor Michael Estes announced the hiring of Atlanta Georgia based eTrans at a large public meeting on the contentious issue Thursday night in York.

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.

Virginia DOT was planning to use an existing contract with TransCore to implement about $54m of toll system upgrades to bring open road tolling (ORT) to the Dulles Toll Road in the Washington DC metro area. However a spokesman for the new DTR owners, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) says they have the option to issue an open Request For Proposals to compete the project.

Delaware River Port Authority are hiring Stantec to do design work on the open road toll lanes being done on the Betsy Ross toll bridge. They say they hope to the ORT lanes, being branded Express E-ZPass in operation in 2011. They hope it can be copied at the Commodore Barry Bridge.

New Hampshire DOT have selected Telvent Caseta to install open road toll systems at their biggest toll plaza - at Hampton on I-95. The $1.98m contract will cover toll systems work associated with the conversion, while civil works are being done under three separate contracts likely to total around $20m.

Betsy Ross Bridge about 4 miles, 7km up the Delaware River from the Philadelphia central business district will be one of the first bridges in the northeast to get open road tolling (ORT).

New Hampshire DOT's Bureau of Turnpikes is working "feverishly" to introduce open road tolling through the middle of their main Hampton toll plaza on I-95 by May 30th 2010. Administrator Harvey Goodwin tells us the rush of New Yorkers and Bostonians heading north starts in earnest in June, so to avoid another summer of toll plaza backups they've set a tough target date and a fast schedule.

Affiliated Computer Systems (ACS) has won the open road tolling (ORT) contract for the I-78 and I-80 bridges over the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) have set July 2010 for the end of cash collection on their Selmon Expressway also known as the Crosstown. They are featuring the decision - made in principle more than a year back - and the date on their website at http://www.tampa-xway.com/ORTComingSoon.html

TransCore plan to lodge an appeal against the May 22 US District Court's dismissal of their complaint against ETC on patent infringement in Illinois. An official said: "I don't think you'll find this is the end of the story."

Cash toll collection is still kicking. In Maine the Turnpike Authority is pushing ahead with a planned replacement to their busiest toll plaza - the mainline plaza in York at Mile Marker 7, seven miles north of the New Hampshire border. And they plan a new $32m to $35m nineteen toll lanes plaza – 2+ 2 open road electronic toll (ORT) lanes through the middle and fifteen stop-to-pay toll lanes, eight southbound, seven northbound, straddling the ORT lanes.