ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Toll plazas that have stood for decades are being dismantled along the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Toll booths at the Pocono interchange (Exit 95) came down over the weekend.
Work to remove the booths at the Lehigh Valley interchange (Exit 56) is planned to start in late August, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Press Secretary Marissa Orbanek said.
The plazas at the Quakertown interchange (Exit 44) and at Lansdale (Exit 31) are scheduled for teardown in late July and the week of June 23, respectively, Orbanek said.
The toll plazas are being demolished in places where open road tolling has launched. That’s along the Northeast Extension and on the main east-west Turnpike, east of Reading.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission estimates open road tolling will result in savings of $75 million a year.
The toll booths are no longer needed because tolls are charged electronically as motorists drive at highway speeds, without slowing down or stopping, under gantries — overhead structures on the highway between interchanges.
The gantries process E-ZPass and toll-by-plate transactions.
Open road tolling will go into effect on the main Turnpike west of Reading in 2027 and toll booths are expected to be fully removed there by the end of 2028, according to the turnpike commission.
Work to remove the toll booths at the Mid-County interchange at Plymouth Meeting (Exit 20) will start this coming weekend, Orbanek said.
The scheduled work up and down the Northeast Extension is weather-permitting, she said.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission estimates open road tolling will result in savings of $75 million a year — $25 million in interchange maintenance and operations costs and $50 million yearly in operational savings versus traditional collection methods.
During the demolition work, state police and turnpike personnel will be stationed nearby, with message signs giving information on traffic patterns.
