Cashless tolls coming to Key, Hatem bridges in October

>> WHEN YOU DRIVE OVER THE KEY BRIDGE THIS FALL, YOU WILL BE GOING CASHLESS, HIGH-TECH TOLL LANES IN OCTOBER. SOME 60,000 DAILY DRIVERS BETWEEN THE TWO. >> TOLLS WILL BE COLLECTED ELECTRONICALLY AS MOTORISTS KEEP MOVING THROUGH THE TOLL PLAZAS BENEATH NEW COLLECTION POINTS. >> THEY ARE CALLED GANTRIES. THEY WILL START TO GO UP THERE IN THE SUMMER AND WILL START TO READ YOUR EASY PASS. WAX BEES HAVE THE MOST CUSTOMERS WHO ALREADY USE IT TO PAY THEIR TOLLS AND THE EXISTING TOLL PLAZAS WILL BE DEMOLISHED AND THE ROADWAY RESURFACED BY 2021. >> THE CONSTRUCTION WORK WILL HAPPEN NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS, SO YOU WILL NOT NEED TO FIND A WORKAROUND. OFFICIALS DON’T ANTICIPATE NEW CONGESTION, BUT WE WONDER ABOUT CONFUSION. DURING THE OVERLAP, DRIVERS GO UNDER, BUT ALSO THROUGH THE TOLL PLAZAS UNTIL THEY ARE TORN DOWN. >> LET EVERYONE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE’RE DOING EXACTLY WHAT IT WILL LOOK LIKE. >> YOU WILL ONLY BE CHARGED ONCE AND IF YOU DON’T HAVE INDEED PASS -- EASY PASS, YOU CAN USE VI

Put your wallets away, because the Key and Hatem toll bridges will soon become cashless. The Maryland Transportation Authority announced Thursday that it will begin cashless toll collection on the Francis Scott Key Bridge on I-695 in Baltimore and the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge on U.S. 40 in Harford and Cecil counties. Tolls will be collected via an E-ZPass device or by video tolling starting in late October. "Tolls will be collected electronically as motorists keep moving through toll plazas through new, overhead toll collection points," said Pete Rahn, secretary of the MDTA.The metal archways that read the E-ZPass devices are called gantries. You will drive underneath them at highway speed.With video trolling, you drive under the gantry, a photo of your license plate and you are sent a bill in the mail. You're not in trouble, but you will have to pay more $2 more for the Key Bridge."Each year, drivers at the Key and Hatem bridges will save $1 million in fuel and 44,000 hours just by not stopping in toll lanes," said Rahn. "Because, in virtually every circumstance, when you roll up to a toll plaza, you go from a handful of lanes to a dozen or more because that's what's required," said Kevin Reigrut, executive director of the Maryland Transportation Authority. MDTA officials said the change to cashless tolls will help reduce congestion, reduce rates for users, create less idle time for better fuel efficiency and reduced vehicle emissions, increase driver safety and provide a safer work environment for employees.Officials with the MDTA said that, currently, 93% of Hatem Bridge users and 80% of Key Bridge users already have and utilize an E-ZPass. Officials estimate that by spring 2021, the work at the Hatem and Key bridges, including demolition of the existing toll plazas and pavement reconstruction, will be completed. The gantries go up this summer. When they go live in October, the toll booths will be turned off and then taken down.While the schedule has not yet been finalized, additional MDTA facilities will be converted in the future. Officials say all the construction work will be done at night and on weekends.

DUNDALK, Md. —

Put your wallets away, because the Key and Hatem toll bridges will soon become cashless.

The Maryland Transportation Authority announced Thursday that it will begin cashless toll collection on the Francis Scott Key Bridge on I-695 in Baltimore and the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge on U.S. 40 in Harford and Cecil counties. Tolls will be collected via an E-ZPass device or by video tolling starting in late October.

"Tolls will be collected electronically as motorists keep moving through toll plazas through new, overhead toll collection points," said Pete Rahn, secretary of the MDTA.

The metal archways that read the E-ZPass devices are called gantries. You will drive underneath them at highway speed.

With video trolling, you drive under the gantry, a photo of your license plate and you are sent a bill in the mail. You're not in trouble, but you will have to pay more $2 more for the Key Bridge.

"Each year, drivers at the Key and Hatem bridges will save $1 million in fuel and 44,000 hours just by not stopping in toll lanes," said Rahn.

"Because, in virtually every circumstance, when you roll up to a toll plaza, you go from a handful of lanes to a dozen or more because that's what's required," said Kevin Reigrut, executive director of the Maryland Transportation Authority.

MDTA officials said the change to cashless tolls will help reduce congestion, reduce rates for users, create less idle time for better fuel efficiency and reduced vehicle emissions, increase driver safety and provide a safer work environment for employees.

Officials with the MDTA said that, currently, 93% of Hatem Bridge users and 80% of Key Bridge users already have and utilize an E-ZPass.

Officials estimate that by spring 2021, the work at the Hatem and Key bridges, including demolition of the existing toll plazas and pavement reconstruction, will be completed.

The gantries go up this summer. When they go live in October, the toll booths will be turned off and then taken down.

While the schedule has not yet been finalized, additional MDTA facilities will be converted in the future. Officials say all the construction work will be done at night and on weekends.

Cashless tolls coming to Key, Hatem bridges in October

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