Skip to main content

Florida takes the lead in advancing multistate tolling interoperability

Florida is one step closer to meeting national mandate for interoperability, with the announcement that the Florida Department of Transportation has entered into an agreement with Neology, a subsidiary of SMARTRAC Technology Group, for the patents associated with specific licensed products that offer the 6C protocol for electronic toll collection (ETC). “The licence provided through the agreement with Neology allows the Department to implement a variety of strategies to provide toll collection services,”
February 13, 2015 Read time: 2 mins

Florida is one step closer to meeting national mandate for interoperability, with the announcement that the 4503 Florida Department of Transportation has entered into an agreement with Neology, a subsidiary of 6370 SMARTRAC Technology Group, for the patents associated with specific licensed products that offer the 6C protocol for electronic toll collection (ETC).

“The licence provided through the agreement with Neology allows the Department to implement a variety of strategies to provide toll collection services,” said Florida Secretary of Transportation Jim Boxold. “The use of the 6C protocol will be managed by the Department’s tolling arm, the Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise.”

All Florida’s tolling agencies are already compatible; the Georgia State Road and Toll Authority (SRTA) also uses the 6C protocol ensuring SRTA and Florida are interoperable for ETC.

Florida’s Turnpike executive director Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said, “We also accommodate motorists from North Carolina and Georgia’s electronic systems, but there is a tremendous amount of back office work involved to make that happen. The new licensing agreement eliminates that in favour of a faster, more efficient and accurate real-time lane reader” she said. “This means that Florida is one step closer to welcoming travellers from states all around the country onto our system of tolled highways and bridges so they can enjoy their visit hassle-free.”

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (63 IBTTA) has been coordinating discussions amongst US tolling agencies to determine the most effective way to implement national toll interoperability. “The work of the Florida Department of Transportation to secure this license puts Florida in a position to be interoperable with almost all protocols being used in the US today,” said Javier Rodriguez, executive director of the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority and the 2015 president of IBTTA.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Florida ‘should consider mileage tax’
    April 22, 2013
    The concept of road users in Florida paying a mileage tax can no longer be considered a far fetched one. The statewide transportation advisory group Florida Metropolitan Planning Organisation Advisory Council (MPO) has asked the state legislature to start considering a system that requires individuals to pay for each mile driven. An earlier two-year MPO study to find a way to pay for the state’s future transportation needs found that, for the long-term, the state could no longer rely on a fuel tax, which c
  • HNTB Corporation names new toll services chairman
    October 24, 2016
    HNTB Corporation is expanding its national leadership team by naming Kevin Hoeflich as toll services chairman, a post previously held by Jim Ely, who moves into a senior consulting role with the firm. In his new role, Hoeflich, a senior vice president of the firm, will oversee growth and daily management of the toll practice, provide clients across the country with expert resources as they look to operate existing toll facilities, implement tolling in future projects, and represent HNTB to the toll indus
  • IBTTA names new officers for 2024
    October 23, 2023
    IBTTA's Global Tolling Summit takes place in Athens, Greece from 11-14 November
  • MassDOT to start all electronic tolling in October
    August 25, 2016
    The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is to move ahead with plans to completely demolish Interstate 90 toll plazas by the end of 2017 as a milestone in the state’s progress toward all electronic tolling (AET) along Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike), the Tobin Bridge, and Boston tunnels. MassDOT has announced that AET will go live on 28 October and says the system will improve driver convenience and safety and reduce greenhouse gas-causing vehicle emissions. “When toll booths