WDRB (Louisville) reports that ORB project officials “are hesitant to say when tolling will start on three Ohio River bridges, acknowledging that the all-electronic collection system needs additional scrutiny before it goes live. For months, Kentucky and Indiana representatives said tolling was expected to begin in December. But the states’ tolling body on Wednesday [November 30] agreed to begin charging drivers only after the final tests are complete. ‘We anticipate this may happen around the end of the year,’ said Clint Murphy, tolling director for the Indiana Department of Transportation. The testing is ‘very logistical [sic] complex and rigorous, so we don’t want to estimate too closely what we think that might be.”
An ORB project news release about the November 30 meeting notes that officials authorized “changes to the contract with Kapsch TrafficCom, the toll system provider. Changes include allowing contract work to be delivered in smaller testable sections. Another change approved a compatible transformer for the power circuit feeding the East End Crossing equipment pad. Another resolution authorizes the Kentucky Public Transportation Infrastructure Authority, KPTIA, to procure electronic tolling equipment. As a member of the E-ZPass network, KPTIA may have access to better prices for equipment.”