Cashless tolling comes to the Kansas Turnpike by next summer.
By the end of 2025, the Emporia interchange — and many others up and down the highway — will be reconfigured. Turnpike Authority Communications Director Rachel Bell had preliminary details on KVOE’s Morning Show on Friday:
Besides removing the tollbooths, Bell says the work will involve narrowing the lanes coming off the highway to “funnel” traffic in a safer manner.
Emporia’s tollgate was modernized in 2014, five years after work to simplify the interchange — and remove the so-called “spaghetti bowl” of junctions connecting the Turnpike, Interstate 35 and US Highway 50.
The KTA has been working for over two years towards cashless tolling after about 10 years of study.
The project reached a milestone last month when the last gantry, used to read license plates for billing purposes, was installed in northeast Lyon County.
The Turnpike Authority’s system is already compatible with turnpike systems in several other states, including Oklahoma, Texas and most of Florida. Bell says work continues to make the Kansas system compatible with Colorado, North Carolina and Georgia.
