The Port Authority has selected two consultants to study the feasibility of all electronic tolling (or AET, as it’s termed in the toll road world) at its crossings. According to Toll Road News, Traffic Technologies Inc. and Jacobs Carter Burgess will consult on the $12 million project. Design and factory testing will start in 2010, with implementation in 2012. The cashless tolling project was first announced last year (see MTR # 558).

Under the new system, old-fashioned toll booths would be removed and replaced with overhead gantries that allow vehicles to pay tolls without slowing down. Video tolling would be used to photograph the license plates of vehicles without EZ Pass. A number of toll facilities, including certain ones owned by the Port Authority and NJ Turnpike Authority are already equipped with the non-stop gantries, but completely cashless tolling would be new to the region. All electronic tolling is already used in a number of places, including Toronto, Dallas, and Tampa.

All electronic tolling will be good news for commuters and for the environment. Vehicles emit more pollutants when they are idling in traffic, so more consistent speeds translate into less pollution.

The Port Authority-operated George Washington Bridge is the busiest tolling point in the entire country, with 31 toll lanes in three plazas. 147,000 vehicles travel eastbound across the bridge daily.