There are no Thruway toll booths in Pittsford or Chili, nor are there exits there. But a stretch of the highway that runs through the towns will soon be home to the state Thruway Authority’s new cashless tolling gantries.
The authority plans to convert the entire Thruway to cashless tolling by the end of the year, a project that carries a $355 million price tag. The effort involves installing 70 steel gantries, which hold banks of cameras that read E-ZPass tags and license plates to calculate and bill for tolls.
Some of the metal frames, like the ones in Pittsford and Chili, will be erected over travel lanes while others, such as the one that will replace the toll barrier at Exit 43 in Phelps, in Ontario County, will be installed at interchanges, according to the Thruway Authority.
Construction on the Chili gantry is expected to begin in May, according to the authority. That structure will be built roughly halfway between Scottsville-Chili Road and Union Street.
The authority anticipates beginning construction on the Pittsford structure in June. It will go up just east of the Clover Street overpass.
The authority is currently seeking a permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation for the project, which the authority wrote in its application will disturb less than one-tenth of an acre adjacent to a state-recognized wetland.
Reached for comment this week, Pittsford Supervisor Bill Smith said he was unaware of the project and that it might require a review of the town Planning Board. He also noted, though, that such gantries are not an eyesore and that its installation likely will not be a problem.
“This is obviously the way of the future,” Smith said.
Jeremy Moule is CITY’s news editor. He can be reached at jmoule@rochester-citynews.com.