Skip to main content

International bridge opens new toll lanes, upgrades system

The Sault Ste Marie International Bridge, which connects Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, is opening new toll lanes and upgrading its system with new software and new frequent user discounts. The International Bridge Authority (IBA) began opening the new lanes this week as part of a US$7 million project undertaken in coordination with the Mackinac Bridge Authority and the Michigan portion of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron. The toll software upgrades, which are necessary be
August 11, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The Sault Ste Marie International Bridge, which connects Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, is opening new toll lanes and upgrading its system with new software and new frequent user discounts.

The International Bridge Authority (IBA) began opening the new lanes this week as part of a US$7 million project undertaken in coordination with the Mackinac Bridge Authority and the Michigan portion of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron.

The toll software upgrades, which are necessary because the current software is obsolete and will no longer be supported, will cost US$2.4 million over ten years.

The IBA’s toll system upgrade is also being coordinated with the larger US$8.9 million toll plaza reconstruction effort.

IBA officials expect all three permanent northbound lanes and two permanent southbound lanes to be fully functional by 12 August. The remaining two permanent southbound lanes are slated to go online in late September after the demolition of the old IBA administration building. When complete, the toll plaza will have four southbound and three northbound lanes.

Related Content

  • August 1, 2017
    Continental, Magna International to conduct real-world test of driverless vehicles
    Two automated driving vehicles will travel more than 300 miles before arriving in Traverse City, Michigan, US as part of an international border demonstration by Continental and Magna International. The demonstration will start in southeast Michigan and finish at the Center for Automotive Research’s annual Management Briefing Seminars. The vehicles will cross into Windsor, Ontario before going north to Sarnia, Ontario and return back into Michigan. The demonstration drive allows Continental and Magna, as we
  • January 25, 2018
    Enforcement ensures equity for toll road users
    All-electronic tolling boosts traffic flow but introduces the tricky question of enforcement. Workable solutions are starting to emerge. Enforcement is an essential part of tolling and one of the most important ways for a mobility agency to keep faith with its investors, its community stakeholders and the vast majority of its users. It can also be one of the most unpopular and contentious things a toll authority has to undertake. If tolling is about paying for the roads, then everyone has to pay their
  • May 11, 2012
    Funding shortfall for US Interstate upgrades
    Andrew Bardin Williams investigates tolling on the federal Interstate system as maintenance and upgrade requirements increasingly outpace funding The I-95 corridor through North Carolina is one of the most heavy trafficked interstates in the US, seeing upwards of 46,000 vehicles per day in some stretches-and North Carolina’s Department of Transportation (NCDOT) estimates this number will to rise to 98,000 vehicles per day by 2040. Along with the rest of the federal interstate system, the North Carolina str
  • December 2, 2015
    TransCore to upgrade toll collection on four bridges between US-Mexico
    The City of Laredo has selected TransCore to provide a comprehensive upgrade to the toll collection system on its four international bridges between the US and Mexico. Each year, more than 6.7 million vehicles and three million pedestrians cross the Gateway to the Americas, the Juarez-Lincoln International, the Colombia Solidarity, and the World Trade bridges. The three-year project, which will be completed in 2018, upgrades both the electronic and cash payment toll collection systems.