Electronic transponders for North Carolina's first modern toll road will go on sale Tuesday for $5, the N.C. Turnpike Authority says.

The N.C. Quick Pass is an electronic sticker transponder for drivers who plan to use the 18.8-mile Triangle Expressway through Research Triangle Park and western Wake County. The first section of TriEx, the Triangle Parkway, will open for traffic in December and drivers will start paying tolls to use it in early January. The remainder of the road will open in phases, in August and December 2012.

The Turnpike Authority's customer service center will open for business at 10 a.m. Tuesday at 200 Sorrell Grove Church Road, Suite A, in Morrisville. The transponders will go on sale then at the service center and online at www.ncquickpass.com.

All tolls will be collected electronically. Drivers without transponders will be billed based on photos of their license plates. Toll rates are 35 percent lower for cars with transponders.