The toll booths are now all gone, but the tolls continue on the New York State Thruway. The last of the 230 booths that had been at the Thruway”™s 52 toll plazas was removed on Aug. 30, completing the changeover to cashless tolling. The final booth was removed from the toll plaza at Exit 60 for Westfield.
Matthew J. Driscoll, executive director of the Thruway Authority, said, “The implementation of cashless tolling is one of the largest and most comprehensive projects… Over the last two-plus years, hundreds of women and men have dedicated thousands of hours into this transformative project.”
Toll collection continues through the use of overhead gantries equipped with antennas to communicate with E-ZPass transponders in vehicles and cameras to photograph license plates of vehicles that don”™t have E-ZPass. Ownership of the vehicles is tracked through the plate numbers and bills are sent out by mail.
Gantries installed over the highway range from 58 feet to 150 feet in length, are 23 feet high and weigh between 25,000 and 104,000 pounds. Gantries installed over entrance and exit ramps range from 48 feet to 94 feet in length by 23 feet in height and weigh between 33,000 and 74,000 pounds.
The switch to cashless tolling represents an investment of just over $355 million by the Thruway Authority. While the toll booths themselves are now history, some toll plaza realignment work remains. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of October. The toll plaza at Exit 17 for Newburgh was to remain with the toll booths removed. Motorists are expected to drive through the former toll lanes at the posted speed limit.
The transition to cashless tolling began in 2016 and the system went live in November of last year.
The Thruway Authority cut about 1,100 toll collector jobs. Of the total, about 900 were part-time and the balance full-time positions. Of the approximately 200 full-timers, about 70 were eligible to retire with state pensions. The Thruway Authority conducted what it called a “detailed outreach program” to help the newly out-of-work toll collectors find new opportunities.
The $355 million contract for the project to convert to cashless tolling on the Thruway was awarded to Cashless Tolling Constructors LLC, a group that includes: A. Servidone, Inc./B. Anthony Construction Group JV based in New York and New Jersey; Rifenburg Construction Corp. based in Troy, New York; Economy Paving Co., Inc., based in Cortland; KC Engineering and Land Surveying in New York City; Stantec Consulting Services Inc., which was founded in Canada; and M & J Engineering based in New Hyde Park.
