STATE

Turnpike project to implement ‘open road tolling’ at East Topeka plaza

Tim Hrenchir
Cars pass through the Kansas Turnpike toll booth Tuesday afternoon East of Topeka. (Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal)

Work begins Wednesday on a construction project to implement an “open road tolling” arrangement enabling motorists to enter or leave the Kansas Turnpike using the middle lanes of its East Topeka toll plaza at mile marker 183 without slowing down to pay their toll or pick up a ticket.

The project is expected to be completed by November 2018, Kansas Turnpike Authority communications manager Jeri Biehler said in a news release Tuesday.

The project will involve removing the current toll plaza building and parking lot to allow for the construction of highway speed electronic tolling lanes for eastbound and westbound traffic, Biehler said.

The Turnpike Authority will continue to provide booths on the far right edge of the highway, well out of the way of traffic, where westbound drivers will be able to pay their toll and eastbound drivers will be able to pick up a ticket, Biehler said.

She said motorists who exit the Turnpike using the open road lanes without using a K-Tag or stopping to pay their toll will have their license plate number photographed and receive a bill for the toll in the mail, with that bill being 1.5 times the cash toll.

The commuter parking lot at the East Topeka toll plaza will close Oct. 31 to accommodate construction, Biehler said.

Courtesy parking will remain available off of S.E. 21st Street, in an area that can be accessed by leaving Interstate 70 using its S.E. Rice Road exit, and at the Turnpike’s South Topeka toll plaza near S.W. Topeka Boulevard, she said.

The East Topeka toll plaza is the second of three mainline toll plazas the Turnpike Authority is converting to open road tolling, Biehler said.

She said work will be completed in November on the first of those projects, which is being carried out at the Turnpike’s eastern terminal, just west of Kansas City, Kan.

Video simulations demonstrating how open road tolling works can be found here.

The Turnpike Authority last month awarded Topeka-based Bettis Asphalt & Construction, Inc., the contract to carry out the East Topeka toll plaza project for almost $12.24 million.

Reporter Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or @timhrenchir on Twitter.