Electronic Tolls

Drivers in Miami-Dade County, Fla., will soon discover there's no such thing as a free ride.

The Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) is expanding its toll collection infrastructure to include open road tolling (ORT) -- part of a planned all-electronic system that will bring the total number of collection points on MDX's five expressways to 44.

Proponents say that an all-electronic collection system will ease traffic at collections points and spread payment fairly among users.

As part of the five-year plan for ORT development, the MDX deployed SunPass, an electronic toll collection system, in 1999. With SunPass, motorists' tolls are collected electronically via transponders located on vehicle windshields as motorists drive through dedicated SunPass lanes at toll plazas.

SunPass users, however, can only drive through toll plazas at a maximum of 25 mph for the electronic tolling to function properly, which slows highway traffic. In ORT, motorists can drive through toll collection points, instead of toll plazas, at highway speeds because the plazas are replaced by overhead gantries that span all four lanes of a highway.

The new ORT technology will use existing SunPass equipment already used for electronic tolling, but with modifications so that transponders can be read at normal highway speeds. Implementing the new ORT technology will help the MDX phase out toll plazas over the next few years.


In With the New
The MDX and United Toll Systems are updating ORT technology to allow vehicles to proceed at normal highway speeds, even change lanes, as they pass through toll collection points.

In addition, ORT does not require a toll plaza. Transponders are attached to vehicle windshields, and antennas that read those transponders are mounted on overhead gantries that span the roadway. These gantries, similar to the structures that hold highway signs, are cheaper to build and maintain than traditional toll plazas.

For this expansion to work, however, all drivers must have a SunPass account, which is currently not the case. MDX authorities know 100 percent participation is unlikely, so MDX will test the plan's viability on a new extension of State Route 836 in 2007.

"The idea there will be to demonstrate to ourselves, our users, to our board, to the underwriters, to the bankers that we can collect whatever percentage [of drivers] does not have transponders, and we believe that we should have at least 75 to 80 percent participation of electronic toll collection," said Servando Parapar, MDX executive director.

At the State Route 836 extension tolling point, vehicles with a SunPass transponder will continue at normal speeds through the tolling gantry. Other cars will have to exit the freeway and pass through a traditional toll plaza to pay with cash, then re-enter traffic to continue on the expressway.

Eventually the MDX hopes to include video tolling options for drivers without a SunPass account. Toll plazas and gantries are already equipped with digital cameras that take a picture of every vehicle that passes through. With video tolling, when a SunPass transponder or video tolling account is detected and toll is collected, the image -- taken by the cameras already in place -- will be deleted. Adversely if toll is not collected, the image will be saved and a citation issued within 48 hours of nonpayment.

Those who opt for video tolling accounts can establish them prior to trips or within 48 hours of passing the tolling point. These prepaid accounts will be identifiable at the toll point by the vehicle's license plate number.

Video tolling is not yet in use, but it's an option the MDX hopes to implement to collect additional toll funds from out-of-state drivers and non-SunPass users, since the agency won't be installing any more tollbooths on roadways. The State Route 836 extension is the last place the MDX is planning to install