Cameras to monitor tolls on SH 130
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The free trial of the new sections of State Highway 130 is about to come to an end. Driving the 41 miles between Interstate 10 and State Highway 45 SW will cost you $6.17 starting Sunday.
That stretch of highway has the country's highest speed limit, at 85 miles per hour. In order to enforce the tolls, workers employ high tech gadgetry to catch drivers even at high speeds.
Cameras take pictures of the front and back plates of all passing vehicles. The technology can even determine the type of vehicle.
“When those lasers shoot at the vehicle, they can tell the size and shape of the vehicle so we know the difference between a motorcycle, a pickup truck and an 18-wheeler," Chris Lippincott with the SH 130 Concession Company said.
The cameras even work with vehicles traveling 150 miles an hour. Operators monitor the cameras from a control room 24 hours a day.
"When we do have coverage, we make sure that there is no debris in the road, that the customers are safely off the normal path of vehicles, that if they need assistance we can dispatch assistance to them," Lippincott said.
Nowhere along the 41 new miles of SH 130 will drivers find a toll booth. The camera system is cheaper and more efficient.
"This is the new way to operate toll roads,” Lippincott said. “You're not going to see toll booths in the future, I think, on many roads in the state of Texas."