Pa. Turnpike Launches Cashless Tolling On Beaver Valley Expressway

CHIPPEWA (KDKA) -- The Beaver Valley Expressway (BVE) provides a critical connection between Pittsburgh and Beaver, Lawrence, and Mercer Counties.  Now the future of turnpike tolling is on full display on the BVE.

You no longer need cash when driving the BVE because all the toll collectors have been reassigned and the expressway has gone cashless.  The turnpike's Renee Vid Colborn says you no longer stop to pay a toll. The toll lane will record your E-ZPass or they will get a bill in the mail through our toll by plate system.

Cameras at the toll booth will take a snapshot of your car and your license plate.  After you go through the system for the first time the toll by plate system will keep track of all your tolls for 30 days and then send you a bill.

"The bill will reflect the cash toll, E-ZPass is cheaper and has always been cheaper, but the bill by plate invoice will reflect the cash rate," Colborn says.

She quickly adds there are no extra charges or processing fees added to your bill, you are simply charged the cash amount of the tolls.

One point of concern is the speed drivers are maintaining through the toll booths.  While you don't have to stop, you are asked to slow down. The posted speed limit is 5 miles per hour.

This is a pilot program and if successful it could lead to an eventual cashless system on the mainline and all turnpike roads.

"We want to wait and see how these pilot projects work out before we move to the main line, so it's a staged process," Colborn says.

Which she adds will probably take years to implement.

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For more information on the project, including a video about how cashless tolling will work on Toll 376, click here.