Skip to main content

Golden Gate Bridge to debut all-electronic tolling

After two years of planning, all-electronic tolling will begin on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge on 27 March. In 2011, when the bridge district was facing a five-year shortfall of US$89 million, the Highway and Transportation District approved a plan to pursue all-electronic tolling as a cost-saving measure. The district will trim its expenses by US$16 million over the next decade as a result of the new system. According to bridge district spokeswoman Mary Currie, the bridge will be the first in Califo
March 11, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Picture: Della Huff
After two years of planning, all-electronic tolling will begin on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge on 27 March.

In 2011, when the bridge district was facing a five-year shortfall of US$89 million, the Highway and Transportation District approved a plan to pursue all-electronic tolling as a cost-saving measure. The district will trim its expenses by US$16 million over the next decade as a result of the new system.  According to bridge district spokeswoman Mary Currie, the bridge will be the first in California and the third in the country to feature a cashless toll plaza.

Motorists passing through the new system on the Golden Gate Bridge will have several payment options, including using their FasTrak transponders, which is already the most popular method for those going through the toll plaza.

Vehicles without FasTrak devices will have their licence plates photographed by security cameras. A bill would subsequently be sent to the address registered to the plate. Motorists will have three weeks to pay; late or missed payments will result in a fine. The district is in the process of setting up kiosks around the Bay Area where motorists can make one-time payments to travel across the bridge.

The district is to hold a public hearing on new speed limits at the toll plaza. Currently, there is an 8 km/h limit at the plaza, but bridges around the Bay Area have limits of 40 km/h in their FasTrak-only lanes.

With the debut of the new system, all payment forms will be accepted in every lane; the 1855 California Highway Patrol will enforce compliance.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cooperative infrastructure - the future for tolling?
    February 2, 2012
    Leading European tolling solution providers give a snapshot of how they think tolling's technological future will look
  • Developing Mexico's ITS standards and infrastructure
    February 28, 2013
    Promoting open market conditions for ITS deployment remains a major part of Mexico’s recent infrastructure modernization program. Travis P Dunn, partner at D’Artagnan Consulting, looks at the progress so far. In the past six years, Mexico has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure modernization program, calling for the construction and improvement of more than 19,000km of road infrastructure and the deployment of advanced technologies that improve safety, efficiency, and convenience for road users. One of
  • Tolling interoperability comes a step closer
    October 20, 2014
    Tolling agencies from six US states have committed to start using the Alliance for Toll Interoperability’s (ATI’s) hub service. These include the Central Texas Mobility Authority, the Northwest Parkway in Colorado as well as members of the California Toll Operators Committee and agencies in three other – currently unnamed states. ATI members capturing details of vehicles using their toll roads that are not registered on their own system can send details to the hub. The alliance holds registration plate a
  • US infrastructure: once in a lifetime
    April 23, 2021
    Expectations are sky-high for Amtrak Joe and Mayor Pete as they use infrastructure spending to rebuild the US economy post-Covid – and ITS firms should be able to get a share...