VPP Projects Involving Tolls
Category: Priced Roadways
Sub-Category: Priced Tollways

Project - FLORIDA: Variable Tolls on the Sawgrass Expressway in Broward County

In May 2003, Florida began a pilot project to combine Open Road Tolling and Value Pricing entitled Sawgrass Expressway: A Study of New Technologies. Open Road Tolling (ORT) utilizes electronic toll collection to create a tolled highway system free from toll plazas and delays. This technology has the potential to change the toll industry by improving customer service, lowering operating and maintenance costs, and providing potential savings in capital costs. Under ORT, toll roads would be open to everyone and completely transparent to customers. There would be no toll plazas, tollbooths, or lane restrictions. All traffic would operate at highway speeds, yet every vehicle would pay a toll. Toll collection would occur through equipment located on overhead gantries. Eliminating the toll plazas themselves and the merging and weaving that occur while entering and exiting the plazas enhances roadway capacity and safety. Customers with a transponder would already have a pre-paid account with the toll agency. The toll charge would be automatically debited from their accounts. Value Pricing could be utilized during heavily congested peak periods along the corridor.

Study Completed

The final report, Sawgrass Expressway: Study of New Technologies is not available electronically. You can access a copy of the project summary at: http://knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/cops/hcx.nsf/384aefcefc48229e85256a71004b24e0/
0aa49a654a697d2c85256db9004db2aa?OpenDocument. There are no plans to implement the variable toll project at this time on the Sawgrass Expressway. No final decision has been reached on variable pricing, but the agency believes variable tolls will be implemented at a future time. The main issue preventing variable tolling is the lack of collection facilities. The current system utilizes cash and electronic methods and a variable system would require a transfer to all electronic collections. Although a modernization of collection facilities system-wide is planned, there are no plans to eliminate cash from the Sawgrass Expressway. As of June 2007, the first entirely electronic toll plaza in the Turnpike system is set to open in 2016 on Highway 589.

Please contact the project manager for a copy of the final report.

For More Information Contact

Randy Fox
AICP - Turnpike Planning Manager
Phone: (407) 264-3041
E-mail: Randy.Fox@dot.state.fl.us

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