A barrier toll system (also known as an open toll system) is a method of collecting tolls on highways using

toll barrier A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemente ...

s at regularly spaced intervals on the toll road's mainline. Motorists are typically charged a flat-rate toll, unlike toll roads with a ticket system where the toll rate is determined by the distance traveled or number of exits passed. Some highways use coin-drop machines on toll plazas. For toll roads whose ramps have no toll plazas, it is possible to exit the toll road before the mainline toll plaza, use local streets to bypass it, then re-enter the highway via an interchange on the other side of the toll plaza. Thus it is possible to drive on some barrier toll roads while paying less or not paying at all; this is the basis of the "open" descriptor. There are two main methods by which planners may prevent such toll evasion. One method is to simply remove highway entrances after and exits before toll plazas, so that detouring around toll plazas becomes such an inconvenience that most users will not bother. Another method is to place toll plazas on exits before and entrances after mainline toll barriers, so that all users will always have to pay at least one toll, regardless of entry or exit point. The second method is sometimes called a "barrier-ramp" system; it can be deemed open or closed, respectively, depending upon whether it is consistently applied to all entrances and exits, or only some of them. Examples of the second method may be found on the

Everett Turnpike The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a toll road in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, running from the Massachusetts border at Nashua north to Concord. The Everett Turnpike is named for Frederick ...

, the

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jerse ...

, and the

Autostrada dei Laghi The Autostrada A9 or Autostrada dei Laghi (“Motorway of the Lakes”) is a motorway in northern Italy. Built in 1924, it was the first motorway in Italy and in the world (competing with the AVUS of Berlin). It connects to the A8 motorway at ...

. The barrier toll system can create more congestion than the ticket system, since it forces all motorists to stop for several toll plazas each time they travel down the highway.

Open road tolling Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of toll booths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The ma ...

can alleviate this issue by allowing most users to proceed through the barrier at full speed.

Highways where used

The following is a list of some toll roads that use the barrier system: *

Maine Turnpike Interstate 95 (I-95) in the US state of Maine is a highway running from the New Hampshire state line in Kittery, to the Canadian border in Houlton. It is the only two-digit Interstate Highway in Maine. In 2004, the highway's route between P ...

Spaulding Turnpike The Spaulding Turnpike is a north-south toll road in eastern New Hampshire. Nearly its entire length is overlapped by New Hampshire Route 16. Its southern terminus is at the Portsmouth Traffic Circle (Interstate 95 / U.S. Route 1 Bypass) in Por ...

* Blue Star Turnpike (only one barrier exists for both directions of traffic in

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

, plus the interchange with NH 101 also in Hampton) *

Delaware Route 1 Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) is the longest numbered state highway in the U.S. state of Delaware. The route runs from the Maryland state line in Fenwick Island, Sussex County, where the road continues south into that state as Maryland ...

Delaware Turnpike Interstate 95 (I-95) is an Interstate highway running along the East Coast of the United States from Miami, Florida, north to the Canadian border in Houlton, Maine. In the state of Delaware, the route runs for across the Wilmington area i ...

(only one barrier exists for both directions of traffic in Newark) *

Atlantic City Expressway The Atlantic City Expressway, officially numbered, but unsigned, as Route 446 and abbreviated A.C. Expressway, ACE, or ACX, and known locally as the Expressway, is a long toll road in the U.S. state of New Jersey, managed and operated by ...

West Virginia Turnpike West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Indiana Toll Road The Indiana Toll Road, officially the Indiana East–West Toll Road, is a tolled freeway that runs for east–west across northern Indiana from the Illinois state line to the Ohio state line. It has been advertised as the "Main Street of the ...

(between the Illinois state line and Portage toll barrier; the Indiana Toll Road uses a ticket system from the Portage toll barrier to the Ohio state line)

Highways that formerly used the barrier system

* Connecticut Turnpike - Entire length (tolls removed in 1985) * Dallas North Tollway—entire length (replaced by open road tolling on December 11, 2010) *

New England Thruway Interstate 95 (I-95) is part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada–United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of New York, I-95 extends from the George Washington Bridge in New Yor ...

(replaced by

open road tolling Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of toll booths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The ma ...

on December 19, 2018) *

President George Bush Turnpike The President George Bush Turnpike (PGBT) is a toll road running through the northern, northeastern and western suburbs, forming a partial loop around Dallas, Texas, United States. It is named for the late George H. W. Bush, the 41st president ...

—entire length (replaced by open road tolling on July 1, 2009) *

Camino Colombia Toll Road State Highway 255 (SH 255) is state highway in the U.S. state of Texas that allows international traffic to bypass Laredo. Located in Webb County, the highway provides a connection between the Laredo–Colombia Solidarity International ...

—entire length for its duration as a privately owned toll road from the late 1990s until 2004. * Most roads of

Illinois Tollway The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Illinois charged with building, operating, and maintaining toll roads in the state. The roads, as well as the authority itself, are sometimes referr ...

system (replaced by

all-electronic tolling Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of toll booths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The ma ...

in 2020)

References

{{Toll road Toll (fee) Road infrastructure