Triangle Expressway drivers will pay tolls automatically

RALEIGH -- Keep your quarters in your pocket and your dollar bills in your purse when you start driving on North Carolina’s first toll road, the N.C. Turnpike Authority says.

Your cash money’s no good here.

There will be no toll plazas and no cash collections for drivers on the planned 18-mile Triangle Expressway in Research Triangle Park and western Wake County, the turnpike board decided today. Turnpike travelers will pay their way electronically, one cashless way or another:

* Most drivers will carry transponders in their cars that identify them when they drive beneath electronic sensors on the toll road. The toll payment will be debited automatically from their accounts. Turnpike officials aim to have at least 70 percent of their customers using transponders when the toll road opens, possibly as soon as 2011.

* Some drivers may choose to set up accounts and register their license numbers, without using transponders. Cameras will record their license numbers and their accounts will be debited. Toll rates for each trip will be higher for these drivers than for those who use transponders.

* Cameras will record license numbers of other drivers, too. With a system similar to that used to catch red-light violators at some city intersections, the Turnpike Authority will send bills to the owners of these cars and trucks, charging its highest toll rate.

David Joyner, the turnpike authority’s executive director, said the technology will be good enough to identify each vehicle without requiring drivers to stop, or even slow down.

“The studies are clear that people hate stopping almost as much as they hate paying the toll,” Joyner said.

The Triangle Expressway will extend Raleigh's Outer Loop south through western Wake from RTP to Holly Springs, and it will extend the Durham Freeway south from Interstate 40 through RTP to the Outer Loop. The turnpike authority could start construction next year if it obtains "gap" funding from the General Assembly to cover the expected difference between costs and toll revenues. The agency is exploring options with private lenders who might agree to cover the gap if the legislature balks.