Highway Speed E-ZPass

Increasing traffic volumes Thruway-wide, especially in urban areas serviced by the Thruway, continually challenge the Authority to reduce congestion within toll collection areas. When possible, additional staffed and dedicated E-ZPass lanes have been added; however, traffic demands at the existing barriers continue to grow.

To help reduce delays and provide a means to address future traffic demands, the Authority is considering the installation of Highway Speed E-ZPass lanes when and where feasible along the Thruway system. Highway Speed E-ZPass lanes allow E-ZPass customers to drive through selected toll collection locations at highway speeds using dedicated E-ZPass lanes. Highway Speed E-ZPass lanes would be physically isolated from the location used to serve cash-paying customers.

The addition of Highway Speed E-ZPass lanes through increases traffic flow through the toll collection area. Highway Speed E-ZPass would:

• Reduce traffic congestion and travel delays both for motorists using Highway Speed E-ZPass and those using a staffed toll lane. All traffic would be able to flow through the Plaza safely and efficiently.
• Reduce the overall noise associated with a Toll Barrier by reducing the volume of traffic decelerating, stopping and accelerating to highway speeds. A significant reduction in tractor-trailer braking noise would be evident.
• Reduce vehicle emissions due to a reduction in the number of vehicles braking, stopping and accelerating at the barrier. A reduction in vehicle delays and associated idling fumes at the barrier would be measurable.

HIGHWAY SPEED E-ZPASS SIMULATION
(Click on the format below to view simulation - for better viewing performance, download the file to your desktop and run from there.)
MPEG (18.5 Mb) -- AVI (20.7 Mb)  -- MOV (26.5 Mb)

Click on the rendering above to make larger

The images depict artist renderings of future Toll Barrier configurations, where dedicated Highway Speed E-ZPass lanes pass between east and westbound staffed Toll Plazas, allowing E-ZPass customers to electronically pay their tolls while traveling at highway speeds. The Thruway Authority, in cooperation with the Computational Center for Research at the University at Buffalo, Bergmann and Associates and TVGA, created the computer-generated images above.

Highway Speed E-ZPass lanes would allow customers traveling at highway speeds to safely separate themselves from the Toll Plaza lanes, travel through the area at highway speeds while electronically paying their toll and safely merge with the traffic. As demonstrated in other areas, Highway Speed E-ZPass lanes can process significantly more vehicles than staffed toll lanes.