Groundbreaking for the nation's most technologically highway, a toll road, occurred on August 12 in North Carolina. Attended by Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez, the 19 mile road will have no toll booths. It is expected to open 2011.
The Triangle Expressway is not only unique from a technological perspective, but also from a financial basis as well. It relied on toll-revenue bonds, Build America bonds, and Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loans.
"This project will be designed and built to use an all-electronic system. There will be no toll booths and no stopping to pay tolls. Customers purchase a transponder that automatically charges for road use."
Don't have a transponder? Smile for the "overhead high-speed cameras (that) snap an image of your license plate and drivers will be billed according to the number of miles driven."
If successful, expect future tollways to use the same, all-electronic system technology.
Thanks to Charles Siegel
FULL STORY: Federal Highway Administrator Mendez helps break ground on North Carolina's innovative Triangle Expressway
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Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research