DATE: Thursday, June 26, 1997               TAG: 9706260398

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: YORKTOWN                          LENGTH:  105 lines

ADVANCED TOLL SYSTEM EYED FOR NEW CROSSING OFFICIALS SAY NEW SPAN OR TUNNEL WOULD USE SENSORS TO SPEED TRAFFIC.

Thanks to technology, toll-booth traffic jams don't exist at the Coleman Bridge in York County, say motorists. That's comforting news to Hampton Roads drivers who may someday be paying $1 or $2 each time they travel between South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula.

Transportation planners have suggested tolls as one way to pay for a new Hampton Roads crossing. The tolls would be enacted on the James River Bridge and the Hampton Roads and Monitor-Merrimac Memorial bridge-tunnels, as well on the proposed third bridge-tunnel.

At the George P. Coleman Bridge, which connects Yorktown and Gloucester over the York River, an advanced system uses sensors attached to car windshields and prepaid accounts. Cars equipped with the sensors breeze through toll plazas.

The same system would be used on the Hampton Roads crossings, road officials say.

``We're not going to build anything that's going to cause traffic congestion,'' said William J. Cannell, Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman. ``That's not solving the problem. Any road we build will make our entire transportation system more effective.''

The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission will vote next month on whether to build a new bridge-tunnel, costing between $1.5 billion and $3.3 billion, and where to build it.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board will vote on the proposal in September. If approved, a detailed study, including financing methods, would be prepared.

Cannell said any new tolls in the region would use what is known locally as Fastoll.

Fastoll has been in use at the Coleman Bridge since August. It is considered one of the most successful electronic toll-collection operations in the nation.

``We had a lot of doubters before the Coleman opened,'' Cannell said. ``Everyone said Fastoll wasn't going to work.''

But the doubters were proved wrong. ``There are none in the country that we know of that caught on as quickly as the Coleman did,'' Cannell said. ``The numbers are staggering.''

About 90 percent of vehicles use Fastoll during peak rush hour, said Terry Cooke, Coleman Bridge facility director. That drops to about 80 percent throughout the day on weekdays and 70 to 75 percent on weekends, Cooke said.

At the Coleman Bridge, Fastoll users get a discount - paying 50 cents as opposed to $2. About 14,500 vehicles pass through the toll plaza each day.

``If I don't have to stop and it costs less, what could possibly be the downside?'' said Niel Dealteriis, who lives in Newport News and works in construction in Gloucester. ``If you have to go to tolls, there's no point in not doing Fastoll.''

Coleman Fastoll users interviewed this week say they've never experienced traffic backups as a result of the toll. Congestion at the Coleman is attributable only to accidents, breakdowns and bridge lifts.

``The toll doesn't hold me up at all,'' said 88-year-old Annie Laurie Hunley, who said she's spent $80 on her toll account since August. The Gloucester resident crosses the bridge daily to feast on restaurant buffets on the other side the York River.

Jim Smith, a Yorktown builder, said: ``It's easy. I don't stop at all. I barely slow down.''

The Coleman Bridge system is the second system in Virginia to use the automated toll technology, and one of only about 15 in the country.

A similar system is used at the Dulles Toll Road outside Washington. In the Richmond area, installation of electronic tolls will begin later this summer on the Powhite Parkway extension in Chesterfield County.

Local toll roads now in the works - including the upcoming Pinners Point connector in Portsmouth and Virginia Route 168 in Chesapeake - will likely include Fastoll. Fastoll could also be part of several proposed projects, including the Southeastern Parkway and Greenbelt in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach and a second Midtown Tunnel between Norfolk and Portsmouth.

All electronic toll systems in the state will use the same technology so that transponders will work at any Virginia location. Already, Coleman Bridge transponders will work at the Dulles Toll Road, and vice versa. ILLUSTRATION: NHAT MEYER photos/The Virginian-Pilot

At the George P. Coleman Bridge, which connects Yorktown and

Gloucester over the York River, a system uses prepaid accounts and

sensors attached to windshields. Cars equipped with the sensors,

such as the one at right, breeze through toll plazas and pay 50

cents instead of $2.

Drivers who use the Fastoll system keep their transponder, upper

left, on windshield so it can be read electronically as they pass

through toll booth.

HOW FASTOLL WORKS

Specially designated lanes are set aside for Fastoll users only.

Drivers register with the Department of Transportation either by

phone at (888) FASTOLL or at a designated outlet to establish an

account, with an opening balance of at least $10. The motorist, for

a $15 deposit, receives a transponder, about the size of a deck of

cards, to be attached to the windshield near the rear-view mirror.

As the driver passes through a Fastoll toll plaza, an overhead

scanner electronically reads the car's account number and deducts

the toll amount from the driver's prepaid account. No stopping to

toss coins into a basket or to pass money to a toll collector.

As the motorist drives past the sensor, a green light will flash.

If it flashes yellow, that means the account balance is getting low

($4 or less) and needs to be replenished. A blue light and buzzer

signal a depleted account; motorists are advised to replenish their

accounts as soon as possible.

Toll violations are enforced through the use of cameras as well

as police surveillance.

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