Toll booth, but not the toll, vanishing from PA Turnpike bridge

A toll booth on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River bridge on the PA Turnpike will be vanishing soon, but the toll isn't going with it.

Tuesday night the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission hosted an online information session about the new cashless tolling point to begin operation January 3.

The new toll will be on I-276 between Bristol and Edgely. If you're having trouble visualizing the area affected, check out this informational video here.

The toll booths are being replaced by a gantry over the road is equipped to read EZ Pass tags and charge drivers a flat $5 to enter the state from New Jersey. Drivers without EZ Pass will be charged a bit more, $6.75. A license plate reader similar to those used to catch toll booth violators will snap a picture and mail a bill to the driver.

The new eastward terminus of the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be about four or five miles down the road just before the Bensalem exit, the Neshaminy Falls Toll Plaza, which will operate like existing Turnpike tolling points.

The new cashless toll station is not part of the Turnpike's ticket system and will mean an additional cost for drivers travelling on to the Turnpike. The new revenue the cashless toll will create is needed, said Turnpike Commission spokesman Carl Defebo, to fund a planned connection between the Turnpike and I-95. The $1.4 billion project is expected to link I-95 and the Turnpike by 2018.

The Turnpike Commission maintains a web site with details of the project here.