'Obsolete' toll booths to be removed from 7 Bay Area state-owned bridges
The Brief
Open Road Tolling is coming to all seven of the Bay Area's state-owned toll bridges.
This means the existing toll booths will have to be removed from these bridges.
Up first is the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge. Work should be completed by early 2026.
OAKLAND, Calif. - The removal of the toll booths for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is slated to happen at the end of May, officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission - Bay Area Toll Authority say.
What we know
John Goodwin, assistant director of communications for MTC-Bay Area Toll Authority, on Friday said the plan is for "now-obsolete" toll booths for all seven of the Bay Area's state-owned toll bridges to be removed, as the spans will convert to open-road tolling over the next three to four years, he said.
This will help prevent traffic from bottle-necking.
"The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge simply will be the first. The construction timeline is not set just yet," said Goodwin.
Officials say the open-road tolling system will streamline the driver experience once the toll booths are removed.
As for the first bridge to undergo the toll-booth removal, Goodwin says it's unlikely anything, including excavations, foundation work, and gantry erection, will be visible to passing motorists until this summer.
The schedule calls for the work to be completed on the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge by early 2026.
MTC- Bay Area Toll Authority shared conceptual renderings of what the open-road tolling could potentially look like. Instead of toll booths, an overhead structure called a gantry, equipped with technology to process tolls, will go up. Since there will be no toll booths, drivers won't have to stop and cars will flow freely.
SEE ALSO:Bay Area bridges due for collapse risk assessment in the event of ship strike: NTSB report
According to MTC, implementation of open-road tolling has also been shown in other regions to improve traffic flow and reduce vehicle emissions.
Goodwin says the 'go-live' targets for other bridges include Antioch and Carquinez in 2027; Benicia-Martinez, Dumbarton and San Mateo-Hayward in the first half of 2028; and the Bay Bridge in late 2028.
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