history

Fourteen years ago on March 18 1994 on a snowy Friday afternoon there was a David vs Goliath battle at the Triborough Authority's head offices on Randall's Island in New York's East River. The chief executives of seven northeastern toll agencies comprising the Inter Agency Group (IAG) met to vote on whether to give Amtech or Mark IV the big E-ZPass electronic toll systems contract.
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Here's an advertisement for a new coach service between Frederick (where TOLLROADSnews is based) and Hagerstown Maryland - one of the first improved roads over the Appalachians. The ad is part of a Historic Marker recently placed by the site of the National Pike in Hagerstown.

From the ad it seems service was something of a monopoly before the Union Line got going. It advertises FARE REDUCED.  read more »

Early in the 20th century when muscle and motor power modes coexisted on the roads vehicle classification at toll facilities was complex. That is nicely displayed in this photograph of a posted toll schedule.

The black and white photograph from the Library of Congress collection is rather overexposed or else the print has faded. But fiddling with it in Photoshop (taking Contrast up to about 130) it becomes more or less legible:

TARIFF OF TOLL RATES
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Some wild history gets around. Bill Stanley writes in the Norwich CT Bulletin newspaper this weekend that Connecticut built "the first turnpike." In fact it was one of the later state turnpikes.

It started construction in 1955 and opened in 1958.

A bunch of states built their tollroads or turnpikes earlier:

- Pennsylvania 1940 (160mi), OH-NJ 1954
- Maine Turnpike 1947 (54mi)
- New Hampshire Turnpike 1950  read more »

Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) is sending its inventory of tokens to a scrap metal merchant - a reminder of the changing technology of toll collection. The tokens with a face value of 10c each were used to provide commuter discounts for three decades through Dec 2002 when transponder based tolling was introduced by DRJTBC (known colloquially as 'Doctor J').
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