Skip to main content

MassDOT to start all electronic tolling in October

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
August 25, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The 7213 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 have been removed, AET will allow drivers to maintain regular highway speed as they pass under AET gantries, eliminating the need for drivers to sharply reduce speed and idle in toll booth lines.

MassDOT is working with the Executive Office of Public Safety to establish clear policies for the use and retention of AET data and is in discussions with public safety officials about the very limited circumstances in which AET-generated ‘hot list’ or other information could be used in the case of public safety emergencies.

MassDOT officials estimate that the agency will save about US$5 million in annual operating costs with AET.  The cost of designing and building the physical AET system is about US$130 million and toll plaza removal and reconstruction, excluding the Sumner Tunnel, will cost about US$133 million.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IBTTA Summit: satellite tolling is the future
    August 15, 2019
    IBTTA members met in Florida to consider the technological changes that will impact their businesses – including satellite tolling. Colin Sowman reports from Orlando Over decades, the technology employed in toll collection has been honed to near perfection – automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are easily within a couple of per cent of infallibility even at highway speeds. However, technical innovations beyond the confines of the toll road cannot b
  • Troopers in the TOC – a recipe for success
    May 11, 2016
    A traffic incident management project in Arizona has speeded up reopening closed lanes and saved an estimated $165m through reducing traffic delays. The process for clearing roadway incidents on the Maricopa County freeways in Arizona has always reflected industry best practice with, for instance, a live feed of freeway cameras to the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) dispatch centre and the City of Phoenix Fire dispatch centre. The region has nearly 480km (300 miles) of freeway connecting 27 citi
  • Promoting understanding of the need for enforcement
    March 15, 2012
    Changing needs of mature and emerging economies are demanding more rigorous enforcement services. Gatso’s managing director Timo Gatsonides spells out the challenge to Jason Barnes. As geographical markets mature and saturate, it might seem that the only thing for suppliers to do is to look further afield in search of new opportunities. The automated enforcement market in north western Europe could be a case in point, but Gatso’s managing director Timo Gatsonides begs to differ. The sheer number of new syst
  • Observing driver behaviour in real traffic condition
    March 16, 2016
    The EU’s UDRIVE project will investigate driver behaviour in terms of road safety and the decarbonisation of road transport, as Nicole van Nes and Silvia Curbelo explain. There were nearly 25,700 fatalities on European Union (EU) roads in 2014 or, to look it another way, roughly 70 people are killed in traffic accidents on European roads every day - and many more are injured. Around 22% of the fatalities are pedestrians, 15% will be motorcycle riders and 8% cyclists. So despite the improvements in road safe