Thruway Going Cashless Get Your E-ZPass Before It Is Too Late

NEW YORK — The New York State Thruway is scheduled to convert to an entirely cashless tolling system by the end of 2020.

The Thruway Authority is modernizing its 570-mile transportation system by converting to cashless tolling. Their goal is to reduce congestion, improve traffic flow, help the environment, and allow for non-stop travel on New York’s toll roads, bridges, and tunnels.

The Design Build project will include the installation of cashless tolling gantries and equipment and the removal of existing toll booths at 52 Thruway interchanges and toll barriers across New York State. There are two main phases to the project. The first phase is the installation of the gantries on the Thruway and ramps. The second phase will be the removal of the toll plazas.

How does cashless tolling work?

Motorists drive under a gantry with state-of-the-art sensors and cameras that read E-ZPass tags and take license plate images, so vehicles no longer have to stop to pay the toll. Vehicles with E-ZPass tags are automatically charged and vehicles without E-ZPass tags will have their license plate image captured and a toll bill mailed to the registered owner of each vehicle. Customers who pay using Tolls By Mail will pay the same toll rate as previously paid by cash customers, and E-ZPass customers with New York accounts will continue to receive a five percent discount.

Once cashless tolling goes live across the system, work will continue in 2021 to remove the toll plazas and realign interchanges.

The first tolls were collected on the Thruway in June 1954; more than 12,000 men and women have served as toll collectors, working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in all weather conditions.

Tolls will not increase, and are frozen through 2020, according to the state Thruway Authority. For more information, or to sign up for E-Z Pass go to: www.thruway.ny.gov/ezpass/index.html.