Following the announcement the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission (OTIC) is preparing to start a phased-in launch of its new toll collection system, Cleveland.com provides a guide to the complex of changes drivers will encounter.
When the transition takes effect — the precise date is dependent on the completion of tests — new OTIC roadside electronic tolling apparatus will become fully operational and toll lane exit gates in all dedicated E-ZPass lanes will remain in the open position. (Entry gates were lifted last year.) For the first time, transponder users will be able to enter and exit the turnpike without stopping, although they must observe a 10 MPH speed limit while driving through toll plaza lanes. The ETC hardware upgrades together with OTIC’s previous installation of new automated cash and credit payment machines at its interchanges will improve customer convenience and save authority operating costs.
Some major toll structure changes will take effect with the launch of the new system. Tolls will no longer be charged at nine plazas along the highway system — five near the turnpike’s eastern portal and four near the western portal — although drivers will still be able to enter and exit at all those places. Instead, a new flat-rate toll will be assessed when drivers enter the system from the eastern or western gateway, and also when they exit the turnpike into Indiana. Elsewhere, between exits 49 and 211, a conventional closed ticketed toll structure will remain in effect and determine how much drivers pay. To facilitate these tolling changes, OTIC has created new or replacement plazas at its western gateway (Exit 4) and at the beginning and end of the ticketed segment (exits 49 and 211). The modernized facilities will become operational when the new ETC system goes online. For drivers, perhaps the most striking change resulting from the restructure will be the reduction in the number of active toll points from 31 to 24.
OTIC has published a chart showing the rate changes that will result from initiation of the new hardware system and toll structure. Costs will increase for class 8 commercial truck drivers, but many customers will not see a significant net change in what they pay to travel on the turnpike. The toll rate charged per mile traveled will not be affected.