Toll booths and baskets cost money to operate. Toll collectors need to be paid and maintenance work must be done on the coin-catching machines, explained Sue Chrzan with the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority. The authority operates the highway, which used to be called the Tampa Crosstown Expressway. Pulling out the booths and replacing them with overhead electronic scanners will save the authority money. Plus, many of the authority's coin machines are around 25 years old and due for an expensive replacement. Impact on drivers Chrzan says drivers will like the switch. There will be no more slowing down and lining up, no more getting stuck behind a person who's in the wrong lane at the toll booth, and no more worrying about keeping your ashtray stocked with quarters. Gregg Laskoski withAAA Auto Club South says his group isn't opposed to a cashless crosstown commute -- they see benefits, too. But Laskoski says it's critical drivers -- especially tourists -- are told exactly what to do when the toll booths go bye bye. Confused drivers can take home a bad impression of Florida or even make moves that put others at risk if they don't understand how the road works, Laskoski said. How will I pay? SunPass - Around 70 percent of the people who drive on the Selmon are commuters, and 90 percent of those drivers already use a SunPass electronic transponder, Chrzan said. For those folks, the only change will be the removal of the physical toll booths. SunPass is availablefrom this website and many stores for $25. Stores also sell aMini SunPass sticker for $4.99. Toll-by-Plate Account - Think of this as SunPass, but without the SunPass transponder in your car. As you pass a tolling location, a camera takes a picture of your license plate and figures out who you are. The toll is then deducted from an account you have set up with the expressway authority. Bill Me - This option is focused mainly on drivers who only take the Selmon occasionally. A camera on the highway snaps a picture of your license plate as you pass a tolling place. With that picture, the expressway authority figures out who you are and sends you a bill for your tolls. It's not a ticket -- only a bill that gives you several ways to pay the tolls you've accumulated. Do you think cashless toll roads are the wave of the future and this is the right move? Or should the expressway authority think again about tearing out the toll booths? Post your comment at the end of the article. To get more specifics on how the all-electronic tolling will work and to comment directly to the planners of the project, read theFrequently Asked Questions section of the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority's website. />
Bye bye, toll booths: Selmon Expressway to stop taking cash
In a move designed to save money and speed up crosstown commutes, planners are doing away with toll booths along the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway. The road's expected to be cashless by July 2010.
