Politics & Government

Final Weekend for Tobin Bridge Tollbooths

The Tobin Bridge tolls have shrunk in recent weeks, but the bridge goes to all-electronic collection starting on Monday.

It is the final weekend that drivers will see tollbooths on the Tobin Bridge.

MassDOT said that Monday will be the first day of all-electronic toll collection on the bridge that carries Route 1 over the Mystic River, connecting the North Shore to Boston.

The end of cash-only toll collection has been in the works for longer than a year and it becomes complete before the morning commute starts on Monday.

Find out what's happening in Salemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The new tolls mean that drivers headed in to Boston won’t have to stop or slow down to pay the toll - which is $2.50 for drivers with an EZ-Pass transponder and $3 for those that don’t have one. There is no toll for drivers headed out of the city northbound on the Tobin Bridge.

EZ-Pass has been used on the Tobin Bridge since the late 1990s, but MassDOT says that 4.1 million drivers paid using cash as recently as 2012.

Find out what's happening in Salemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“With the implementation of this innovative form of toll collection we are saying to our customers that their time is valuable,” MassDOT Secretary and CEO Richard A. Davey said earlier this year when the final schedule for tollbooth removal was announced. “We are also increasing safety and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by cutting congestion and the time spent idling at the cash booth.”

While drivers with an EZ-Pass transponder will have the toll automatically deducted from their account, other drivers will get a bill in the mail for the toll.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here