Tolls can be paid electronically via the I-Pass system in all toll collection lanes on the North-South Tollway starting Thursday.
Previously, use of an electronic transponder to pay tolls on the 17.5-mile Interstate Highway 355 was limited to less than half the tollbooths.
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Since the I-Pass electronic toll collection system was inaugurated in November 1993, tollway officials had placed signs on the North-South such as “I-Pass left lane only,” to direct motorists with the transponders to the correct toll booths.
Those signs are now being replaced by signs saying, “I-Pass use all lanes,” said Sari Mintz, spokesperson for the toll authority.
Tolls on the North-South can be paid electronically at any booth on the ramps as well as on the main highway, Mintz said.
In the I-Pass system, a motorist leases a radio transponder from the tollway authorities for a $38 refundable deposit, and the motorist can prepay any amount of tolls up to $1,000. Every time the motorist passes a properly equipped tollbooth, the amount of the toll automatically is subtracted from the pre-paid total.
By November, the tollway authorities expect to have tollbooths fitted for the I-Pass system on the Tri-State Tollway from Irving Park Road to 95th Street and on the East-West Tollway from York Road to Winfield Road.