Last week, the New York State Thruway Authority opened highway-speed tolling lanes at its Woodbury toll plaza in Orange County, the first Thruway plaza to offer open-road toll lanes for both personal and commercial travelers.

Also last week, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission opened two high-speed E-ZPass lanes at a toll plaza on I-78, just west of the I-78 bridge connecting New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The new lanes will improve driver safety by reducing the need to decelerate, accelerate, and merge at toll plazas. Reduced idling at the plazas will also result in fewer emissions.

The Woodbury toll plaza is the second Thruway plaza to be upgraded to highway-speed; the first was a commercial-vehicle-only toll barrier in Spring Valley that opened in 2007. The I-78 plaza is the first use of open-road tolls by the DRJTBC, which plans to install more open-road toll lanes at its I-80 toll facility near the Delaware Water Gap.