The Road Ahead

By Andrew Tate, Contributing Author

Not long ago, a trip along a toll road involved waiting in line to pay at a booth—and hoping motorists ahead didn’t ask the operator for directions or to break a large bill.

Thankfully, that’s changed. The arrival of open road tolling system technology a quarter century ago removed this barrier and began a revolutionary advance in toll collection that streamlined modern U.S. toll road acceptance and efficiency.

Vehicle transponders, overhead gantries and automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) systems are ubiquitous features of our frictionless tolling landscape.

So where do we go from here?

RUC and Toll

Tolling technology will remain an essential tool to collect revenue for a bridge or roadway. However, we are near a crossroads where road usage charging (RUC) and tolling converge as methods for funding critical transportation infrastructure projects that would otherwise require a federal gas tax.

In addressing the need for sustainable road funding amid declining gas tax revenues, RUC could potentially revolutionize revenue generation by replacing or supplementing fuel taxes with a per-mile charge.  

While some policy makers nibble around the edges to see how RUC develops, many states are deep into research and trials, keen to advance this option.

RUC and traditional tolling share a common goal of collecting fees from road users to fund road infrastructure and manage congestion, but they differ in approach and implementation. While tolling is an accepted practice, there is still resistance to RUC and its perceived association with personal data collection.

If RUC gains widespread public acceptance, it could revolutionize revenue collection opportunities, opening the door to even more precise tolling technology and establish a better funded transportation system. 

Data Collection and AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) already plays a transformative role in refining and enhancing tolling data collection methods and processing capabilities. 

But we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.

While toll gantries are relatively expensive, AI-powered systems using roadside infrastructure can be installed at a fraction of that cost.

Real-time data collected by AI-powered Internet of Things (IoT) devices like cameras, sensors and radio frequency identification (RFID) readers can generate reliable information related to vehicle identification, traffic flow and toll transactions. IoT-generated information can improve accuracy for per-mile pricing, whether for tolling or RUC.

Road maintenance and construction crews will welcome less intrusive roadside systems, as the reduction of pavement-embedded infrastructure installations will lead to less complex maintenance projects.

Roadside tolling systems will increasingly adopt Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to take advantage of its accuracy, weather resilience and efficiency.

As LiDAR technology evolves and provides higher resolution data it, too, will improve vehicle detection and classification accuracy. When combined with higher-performing ALPR engines and AI tools, LiDAR improves billing accuracy and delivers up-to-date access to Department of Motor Vehicles data and connected vehicle information. These elements will drive down contentious customer calls.

Interstate Coordination

Motorists are comfortable with the convenience of using toll-collecting transponders from providers like E-ZPass, SunPass and FasTrak.

Well, convenient as long as that vehicle stays within the transponder’s geographic region.

Developing regional hubs that establish interoperable systems to connect multiple tolling agencies with differing technologies would eliminate that inconvenience.

We could soon witness nationwide toll interoperability, where multiprotocol readers pay U.S. bridge or road tolls without customers taking on the burden of additional billing or unintended violation fees.

Today, E-ZPass transponders are accepted in Florida and Georgia. Florida is interoperable with toll systems in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. These are encouraging developments and demonstrate the possibilities.

Smart Cities

As more urban areas invest in Smart City technology to improve vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, tolling and RUC stand to benefit.

V2X enables a vehicle to interact with surrounding vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians and networks to reduce collisions, alert pedestrians and bicyclists, and provide weather updates and navigation alerts that improve traffic flow.

Its real-time data capabilities enable vehicles to interact with urban tolling infrastructure, creating the opportunity to introduce tolling in areas where previously it would have been impractical.

Look to the Future

Modern tolling technology is transforming roadside infrastructure and fee collection to fund transportation investments. Acceptance of RUC to replace state and federal gas taxes will further streamline revenue collection capabilities.

Future discussions and collaborative efforts among policymakers and stakeholders should extend to the public to explain the purpose, possibilities, fairness, value and benefits of a modern road funding system. Such a commitment will pay dividends! RB

Andrew Tate is the senior vice president, WSP director of Business Development for Mobility Operations.