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A barrier toll system (also known as an open toll system) is a method of collecting tolls on highways using toll barriers at regularly spaced intervals on the toll road's mainline. Motorists are typically charged a flat-rate toll, unlike toll roads with a ticket system where the toll rate is determined by the distance traveled or number of exits passed. Some highways use coin-drop machines on toll plazas. For toll roads whose ramps have no toll plazas, it is possible to exit the toll road before the mainline toll plaza, use local streets to bypass it, then re-enter the highway via an interchange on the other side of the toll plaza. Thus it is possible to drive on some barrier toll roads while paying less or not paying at all; this is the basis of the "open" descriptor.
There are two main methods by which planners may prevent such toll evasion. One method is to simply remove highway entrances after and exits before toll plazas, so that detouring around toll plazas becomes such an inconvenience that most users will not bother. Another method is to place toll plazas on exits before and entrances after mainline toll barriers, so that all users will always have to pay at least one toll, regardless of entry or exit point. The second method is sometimes called a "barrier-ramp" system; it can be deemed open or closed, respectively, depending upon whether it is consistently applied to all entrances and exits, or only some of them. Examples of the second method may be found on the
A barrier toll system (also known as an open toll system) is a method of collecting tolls on highways using toll barriers at regularly spaced intervals on the toll road's mainline. Motorists are typically charged a flat-rate toll, unlike toll roads with a ticket system where the toll rate is determined by the distance traveled or number of exits passed. Some highways use coin-drop machines on toll plazas. For toll roads whose ramps have no toll plazas, it is possible to exit the toll road before the mainline toll plaza, use local streets to bypass it, then re-enter the highway via an interchange on the other side of the toll plaza. Thus it is possible to drive on some barrier toll roads while paying less or not paying at all; this is the basis of the "open" descriptor.
There are two main methods by which planners may prevent such toll evasion. One method is to simply remove highway entrances after and exits before toll plazas, so that detouring around toll plazas becomes such an inconvenience that most users will not bother. Another method is to place toll plazas on exits before and entrances after mainline toll barriers, so that all users will always have to pay at least one toll, regardless of entry or exit point. The second method is sometimes called a "barrier-ramp" system; it can be deemed open or closed, respectively, depending upon whether it is consistently applied to all entrances and exits, or only some of them. Examples of the second method may be found on the Everett Turnpike
The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a toll road in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, running from the Massachusetts border at Nashua north to Concord. The Everett Turnpike is named for Frede ...
, the Garden State Parkway
The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...
, and the Autostrada dei Laghi
The Autostrada A9 or Autostrada dei Laghi (“Motorway of the Lakes”) is a motorway in northern Italy. Built in 1924, it was the first motorway in Italy and in the world (competing with the AVUS of Berlin).
It connects to the A8 motorway at L ...
.
The barrier toll system can create more congestion than the ticket system, since it forces all motorists to stop for several toll plazas each time they travel down the highway. Open road tolling can alleviate this issue by allowing most users to proceed through the barrier at full speed.
Highways where used
The following is a list of some toll roads that use the barrier system: * Maine Turnpike * Spaulding Turnpike *Everett Turnpike
The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a toll road in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, running from the Massachusetts border at Nashua north to Concord. The Everett Turnpike is named for Frede ...
* Blue Star Turnpike (only one barrier exists for both directions of traffic in Hampton, plus the interchange with NH 101 also in Hampton)
* Garden State Parkway
The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...
* Delaware Route 1
* Delaware Turnpike (only one barrier exists for both directions of traffic in Newark)
* Atlantic City Expressway
The Atlantic City Expressway, officially numbered, but unsigned, as Route 446 and abbreviated A.C. Expressway, ACE, or ACX, and known locally as the Expressway, is a long toll road in the U.S. state of New Jersey, managed and operated by t ...
* West Virginia Turnpike
* Indiana Toll Road (between the Illinois state line and Portage toll barrier; the Indiana Toll Road uses a ticket system from the Portage toll barrier to the Ohio state line)
Highways that formerly used the barrier system
* Connecticut Turnpike - Entire length (tolls removed in 1985) *Dallas North Tollway
The Dallas North Tollway (DNT, or simply the Tollway) is a controlled-access toll road operated by the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), which runs from Interstate 35E near downtown Dallas, Texas ( USA), to U.S. Highway 380, in Frisco, ...
—entire length (replaced by open road tolling on December 11, 2010)
* New England Thruway
Interstate 95 (I-95) is part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada–United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of New York, I-95 extends from the George Washington Bridge in New ...
(replaced by open road tolling on December 19, 2018)
* President George Bush Turnpike—entire length (replaced by open road tolling on July 1, 2009)
* Camino Colombia Toll Road
State Highway 255 (SH 255) is state highway in the U.S. state of Texas that allows international traffic to bypass Laredo. Located in Webb County, the highway provides a connection between the Laredo–Colombia Solidarity International B ...
—entire length for its duration as a privately owned toll road from the late 1990s until 2004.
* Most roads of Illinois Tollway system (replaced by all-electronic tolling in 2020)
References
{{Toll road Toll (fee) Road infrastructure