Of course, this means another summer feature in my commute.
Quote from: KTA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 3, 2017
Reconstruction of toll plaza begins March 6
BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. — A project to convert the Eastern Terminal Toll Plaza located at mile marker 216 I-70/KTA to open road tolling will begin March 6.
Open road tolling is a method of toll collection which allows electronic customers who have K-TAGs or other compatible transponders to move through the toll plaza at highway speeds. Travelers who prefer to pay with cash can slow and pull to the right, well out of way of highway traffic. View a video simulation here.
Construction will involve building new westbound cash lanes north of the existing lanes and new highway speed electronic lanes for both east and west bound traffic. Included in the project is the reconstruction of the 188th Street Bridge and the construction of a new 182nd Bridge crossing I-70/KTA at mile markers 216.404 and 217.176, respectively. Construction is anticipated to be completed by late November, weather permitting.
The first part of the project will have minimal traffic impacts however, drivers are urged to check for future impacts at http://www.kandrive.org, subscribe to KTA Alerts for roadway incident information at http://bit.ly/KHeX6g, follow the Kansas Turnpike on Twitter, and watch for information on KTA's digital message boards. Construction updates on this and other projects are published monthly in KTA's electronic newsletter. Sign up here: http://bit.ly/2l4h37y
The project contract was awarded to Bettis Asphalt & Construction, Inc. Topeka, KS for $13,380,579.88 in February 2017.
Hopefully the entire length of the Kansas Turnpike will be open-road tolled as well.
Raise the gas tax a dime (or whatever it takes to compensate for no tolls) and save the state from spending money for toll collection facilities and improvements. Whatever loose cash Kansas has floating around should be going towards maintenance. Nothing needs to be added to the system to collect a higher gas tax rate.
Rick
Quote from: nexus73 on March 06, 2017, 06:20:55 PM
Raise the gas tax a dime (or whatever it takes to compensate for no tolls) and save the state from spending money for toll collection facilities and improvements. Whatever loose cash Kansas has floating around should be going towards maintenance. Nothing needs to be added to the system to collect a higher gas tax rate.
Rick
I'd guess the KTA gets all of its money from user tolls and none from gas tax collections, but I could be wrong because I don't know specifics of Kansas' setup. So I'd say no state money is being spent; just funds paid by customers.
Quote from: hbelkins on March 06, 2017, 08:04:46 PM
I'd guess the KTA gets all of its money from user tolls and none from gas tax collections, but I could be wrong because I don't know specifics of Kansas' setup.
That is probably the case, but whatever setup there is is not set in stone and could be changed if the state saw fit to.
QuoteSo I'd say no state money is being spent; just funds paid by customers.
This is a philosophical argument, but I would say that since KTA is a state agency its money is state money and its tolls are a form of taxation. There is no reason to analyze it in its own separate bubble. Nor is there really any reason other than status quo maintenance for it to be its own separate entity.
It would be administratively more efficient to dissolve KTA, give the roadway to KDOT, remove the tolls, and raise the state gas tax by how ever many cents necessary to match the lost toll revenue (maybe a little less, since you'd no longer need toll collectors and would be able to eliminate some redundant administrative positions). The net cost of implementing this would be lower AND it'd have permanent savings. Win-win.
Quote from: nexus73 on March 06, 2017, 06:20:55 PM
Raise the gas tax a dime (or whatever it takes to compensate for no tolls) and save the state from spending money for toll collection facilities and improvements. Whatever loose cash Kansas has floating around should be going towards maintenance. Nothing needs to be added to the system to collect a higher gas tax rate.
Rick
Sadly, Kansas doesn't have much of any loose cash as of late because of their fiscal policies. No way a gas tax boost will get through Topeka right now.
Quote from: Darkchylde on March 06, 2017, 09:33:39 PM
Quote from: nexus73 on March 06, 2017, 06:20:55 PM
Raise the gas tax a dime (or whatever it takes to compensate for no tolls) and save the state from spending money for toll collection facilities and improvements. Whatever loose cash Kansas has floating around should be going towards maintenance. Nothing needs to be added to the system to collect a higher gas tax rate.
Rick
Sadly, Kansas doesn't have much of any loose cash as of late because of their fiscal policies. No way a gas tax boost will get through Topeka right now.
There might be more withdrawals from the Bank of KDOT coming because the legislators have to come up with about 800 million to fund the schools. :banghead:
Quote from: route56 on March 06, 2017, 02:22:53 PM
Of course, this means another summer feature in my commute.
Quote from: KTA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 3, 2017
Reconstruction of toll plaza begins March 6
BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. — A project to convert the Eastern Terminal Toll Plaza located at mile marker 216 I-70/KTA to open road tolling will begin March 6.
Open road tolling is a method of toll collection which allows electronic customers who have K-TAGs or other compatible transponders to move through the toll plaza at highway speeds. Travelers who prefer to pay with cash can slow and pull to the right, well out of way of highway traffic. View a video simulation here.
Construction will involve building new westbound cash lanes north of the existing lanes and new highway speed electronic lanes for both east and west bound traffic. Included in the project is the reconstruction of the 188th Street Bridge and the construction of a new 182nd Bridge crossing I-70/KTA at mile markers 216.404 and 217.176, respectively. Construction is anticipated to be completed by late November, weather permitting.
The first part of the project will have minimal traffic impacts however, drivers are urged to check for future impacts at http://www.kandrive.org, subscribe to KTA Alerts for roadway incident information at http://bit.ly/KHeX6g, follow the Kansas Turnpike on Twitter, and watch for information on KTA's digital message boards. Construction updates on this and other projects are published monthly in KTA's electronic newsletter. Sign up here: http://bit.ly/2l4h37y
The project contract was awarded to Bettis Asphalt & Construction, Inc. Topeka, KS for $13,380,579.88 in February 2017.
That's good news. I might have to go get a KTAG transponder now. Are they still working on the interoperability with the NTTA tags? Last I can remember, the KTAG was compatible with the PikePass but not the NTTA.
Quote from: Duke87 on March 06, 2017, 08:30:57 PM
It would be administratively more efficient to dissolve KTA, give the roadway to KDOT, remove the tolls, and raise the state gas tax by how ever many cents necessary to match the lost toll revenue (maybe a little less, since you'd no longer need toll collectors and would be able to eliminate some redundant administrative positions). The net cost of implementing this would be lower AND it'd have permanent savings. Win-win.
Actually, I'd argue to dissolve KTA to eliminate a redundant bureaucracy, give the roadway to KDOT and have KDOT administer the tolls. Why raise the gas tax statewide to pay for a road that funds itself fully and solely from its users. I don't know how what percentage of Kansas Turnpike is out-of-state vs. in-state and if that ratio compares to northern and eastern toll roads like the Illinois/Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania continuous toll road or the New Jersey Turnpike, but if out-of-state traffic continues to pay for the upkeep of the Kansas Turnpike, why make gasoline purchasers in Hays or Salina pay for it?
Instead of the griping in this thread about the existence of the KTA, IMHO there should be more about the turnpike not being E-Z-Pass/I-Pass compatible, especially when they are already rebuilding toll plazas like this.
I have looked at the construction plans for the project Richie describes (KTA contract 7078). Both directions of the Turnpike mainline are being relocated into the footprint of the westbound lanes as they pass through the current toll plaza. The existing eastbound cash/K-Tag lanes through the toll plaza are being retained as cash-only lanes and will be accessed by exiting and then re-entering, as for most newer cash lanes on the Oklahoma turnpikes. The existing eastbound K-Tag lanes are being demolished and removal of the equipment is the responsibility of KTA, not the contractor.
KTA is carbon-copying OTA's standard signing for cash exits, and placing the K-Tag banner on purple on top of a mainline pull-through upstream of the ORT gantry.
The Kansas Turnpike currently has ungated K-Tag lanes with video surveillance and posted 35 limits. These are only marginally more convenient than the gated lanes for K-Tag only (20 limits) or the gated cash/K-Tag lanes (10 limits). Also, since the detectors won't read transponders from vehicles approaching at speeds significantly in excess of these limits, anyone who coasts through at speed hoping to avoid unnecessary gear changes can easily find himself or herself waiting for a manual gate raise at the next gate. (I suspect, but have not been able to confirm, that KTA has been deliberately configuring the equipment to reject reads from vehicles moving too fast, since similar if not identical TransCore equipment is in use in Oklahoma and does not choke on high speeds even at older toll plazas with a 35-MPH PikePass lane adjacent to a cash lane.)
This improvement will be the first true ORT on the Kansas Turnpike. As someone who has sat through multiple manual gate raises, I say it comes not a moment too soon.
As for KTA versus E-ZPass, I would like to supply some context.
* Until last year, KTA did not have ungated K-Tag lanes. Until earlier this year, KTA did not offer customers the ability to self-register license plates for cars equipped with K-Tags to allow attribution of correct toll in cases of blown reads at ungated lanes. (A KTA customer service representative manually registered the plates for my primary roadtrip vehicle late last year, when I brought in a violation letter I had received for speeding through the K-Tag lane at the Southern Terminal. The car had a valid and working K-Tag but was not read, which also resulted in a manual gate raise on exit at South Wichita.) The net result is that, twenty-plus years after introduction of K-Tag, KTA is only just now starting to catch up with the E-ZPass agencies, whose back-office operations are sufficiently well developed that they have had ungated electronic toll lanes and backup video tolling for well over a decade.
* E-ZPass relies on active transponder technology, with the potential to create expensive problems for the customer when transponder batteries fail prematurely. The passive technology used in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas is arguably technically superior, although in current practice it is not good enough to eliminate the need for video backup tolling at ungated lanes.
* The closest E-ZPass agency to the Kansas Turnpike is based in Chicago, 500 miles away at the closest. It makes more sense to interoperate with Oklahoma (nearest facility is 40 miles away at its closest) and Texas (DFW is an alpha world city, like Chicago, but only 300 miles away at its closest).
Quote from: nexus73 on March 06, 2017, 06:20:55 PMRaise the gas tax a dime (or whatever it takes to compensate for no tolls) and save the state from spending money for toll collection facilities and improvements. Whatever loose cash Kansas has floating around should be going towards maintenance. Nothing needs to be added to the system to collect a higher gas tax rate.
Long long ago, in a brief career as a college newspaper columnist, I suggested getting rid of the KTA, citing many of the standard reasons (double-charging, traffic diversion to less safe roads, collection expense). On this forum I have set out a similar rationale for not using tolls as the primary mechanism for financing rehabilitation and expansion of the highways.
I stand by all of those arguments, but I have come to recognize that KTA, like many public authority toll agencies, is politically entrenched. Because it is specialized to serve long-distance through traffic, it is part of the reason southeast Wichita has a perennial transportation problem, and new suburban development southwest of Topeka has poor road access. On the other hand, it is relatively cheap on a per-mile basis (unlike the Texas toll roads); it does not cross-pledge (unlike many regional toll road systems, not just in Texas); it does not subsidize or serve as a guarantor for enterprises not directly related to roads or transportation (unlike the NJ and WV Turnpikes); and it does not subsidize urban mass transit (unlike the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the New York bridges and tunnels).
The traditional method for public turnpike authorities to self-perpetuate (used to masterful effect by Robert Moses) is to issue new toll revenue bonds. KTA traditionally issues bonds with thirty-year maturities and there is (if memory serves) an agreement with FHWA not to issue new bonds after 1997. I don't know what leverage FHWA had to request such an agreement; I also don't know if state law still requires the KTA to dissolve and hand over its facility to KDOT once the last bonds are paid off.
Quote from: mvak36 on March 07, 2017, 09:02:17 AMThat's good news. I might have to go get a KTAG transponder now. Are they still working on the interoperability with the NTTA tags? Last I can remember, the KTAG was compatible with the PikePass but not the NTTA.
The last obstacle to full Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas interoperability is commissioning of a hub to exchange transponder data among the three states. That is due for later this year with full interoperability tentatively planned for this autumn.
Quote from: hbelkins on March 07, 2017, 08:58:52 PMActually, I'd argue to dissolve KTA to eliminate a redundant bureaucracy, give the roadway to KDOT and have KDOT administer the tolls.
There was a big debate in the Legislature a few years ago about folding KTA into KDOT. Governor Brownback signed the resulting bill, so that the two agencies work from the same personnel base but KTA still has its own supervisory board and the majority of its maintenance depots because only small parts of the Turnpike lend themselves to efficient resource-sharing with KDOT. Toll payers still foot the bill for work done on toll-financed infrastructure.
No-one in KDOT ever came out with a tightly calculated estimate of the savings from the merger; all we got was back-of-the-envelope nonsense. The story, widely reported at the time, was that Brownback insisted on the two being merged because he visited Emporia, looked one way and saw the KDOT salt dome, looked the other way and saw the KTA salt dome, and couldn't be persuaded that perhaps both salt domes were necessary for KDOT's and the KTA's respective needs.
Edit: One thing I hoped from the merger, which never came to fruition, was posting KTA construction plans on KDOT's proposals page. At the time KDOT had been putting plans on the Web for about seven years, but KTA still required contractors to hunt down the plans, often by paying a visit to a blueprint shop in Wichita (I had to do this for KTA's chunk of the US 54/K-96/127th Street interchange complex. However, in the past year or so this particular issue has become moot. Beginning in early 2016, plans for at least some projects could be obtained by emailing KTA at a contact address given in the advertisement for each project. Now KTA has set up shop on BidExpress.com, where plans can be downloaded for free. (BidExpress.com is not to be confused with BidX.com, also informally called "Bid Express." The two are owned by the same company but BidX.com still charges $135/month for access to construction plans.)
Quote from: hbelkins on March 07, 2017, 08:58:52 PMWhy raise the gas tax statewide to pay for a road that funds itself fully and solely from its users. I don't know how what percentage of Kansas Turnpike is out-of-state vs. in-state and if that ratio compares to northern and eastern toll roads like the Illinois/Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania continuous toll road or the New Jersey Turnpike, but if out-of-state traffic continues to pay for the upkeep of the Kansas Turnpike, why make gasoline purchasers in Hays or Salina pay for it?
Arguably, it is fairer for the folks in Hays and Salina to pay a small part of the cost for the Turnpike (which adds value to their respective connections to I-70) than for drivers on the Turnpike to pay twice, which they do with tolls on top of the tax on fuel consumed.
It's been a while since I saw data on out-of-state versus in-state drivers on the Turnpike, but I recall a mix something like 40% out-of-state/60% in-state. Even with this mix, which is less drastically tilted toward out-of-state traffic than (say) I-15 in Arizona or I-80 in Wyoming (both of which have had tolls proposed to pay for rehabilitation), this adds up to an appealing (if selfish) argument for retaining tolls since otherwise the funding mix would be nearly 100% Kansas (assuming > 90% federal fuel tax recovery, and even with the 80% federal/20% state funding ratios that typically apply to NHS work). The problem, of course, is that this approach tends to impair interstate commerce by giving people an incentive to stay in-state to avoid other states' retaliatory welcome-stranger tolls, which also bake in inefficiency through traffic diversion and the added collection expenses associated with individualized billing and enforcement.
Sign of the times...
I guess if KTP plan to add future additionnal interchanges, some of them will be K-Tag only.
Edit: (March 11), speaking of K-Tag only interchanges, folks of the East Kellogg project had posted some construction photos on Twitter. https://twitter.com/E54ICT
Quote from: hbelkins on March 07, 2017, 08:58:52 PM
I don't know how what percentage of Kansas Turnpike is out-of-state vs. in-state and if that ratio compares to northern and eastern toll roads like the Illinois/Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania continuous toll road or the New Jersey Turnpike, but if out-of-state traffic continues to pay for the upkeep of the Kansas Turnpike, why make gasoline purchasers in Hays or Salina pay for it?
Because there are administrative costs associated with collecting tolls which would produce savings if the tolls were eliminated. $20M in gross revenue from gas taxes produces more usable funding than $18M in gross revenue from gas taxes plus $2M in gross revenue from tolls.
Meanwhile, deliberately setting revenue streams up in a way to collect more money from out of state traffic is taxation without representation and therefore not the sort of policy we should be pursuing.
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on March 10, 2017, 05:05:30 PM
(March 11), speaking of K-Tag only interchanges, folks of the East Kellogg project had posted some construction photos on Twitter. https://twitter.com/E54ICT
I tell you what, it's really weird to drive down Kellogg and
not go under the Turnpike exit bridge.
Quote from: Duke87Because there are administrative costs associated with collecting tolls which would produce savings if the tolls were eliminated. $20M in gross revenue from gas taxes produces more usable funding than $18M in gross revenue from gas taxes plus $2M in gross revenue from tolls.
Meanwhile, deliberately setting revenue streams up in a way to collect more money from out of state traffic is taxation without representation and therefore not the sort of policy we should be pursuing.
While there may be good arguments for dismantling toll booths on highways, all of those arguments depend on a fuel tax mechanism that is in perfect working order.
Fuel tax rates in most states are horribly out of date. A bunch of states, like Oklahoma, haven't seen a fuel tax hike since 1993. That's roughly 24 years! Very high levels of price inflation have affected road building and maintenance costs over the past 20 years.
There may be entrenched politics taking place in certain toll road authorities. There is an absolute political denial of reality taking place in most state governments, like the one here in Oklahoma. The entrenched party in power here would rather please Grover Norquist, following the no tax hikes ever ideology, and let an already terrible situation deteriorate even worse.
Every state government contracts out a great deal of work to private businesses, like construction companies that build roads. The wage levels and cost of doing business in those private businesses have not remotely stayed in one place since 1993. If we can't raise fuel taxes can we make all these construction companies and companies selling materials like steel and concrete take massive pay cuts? Why not give everyone else in the private sector a massive pay cut? That's what it will take for those 1993 fuel tax levels to make any sense.
The reality is intense, partisan politics and goose-stepping ideology will prevent any fuel tax hikes until the system descends into a full blown crisis. I think odds are greater we'll see new toll gantries popping up on all sorts of previously "free" highways, and not just limited access freeways either.
There's not a single state that has loose change rolling around...otherwise if they wanted to do a project they'll just go ahead and do it.
Exhuming thread for a status update.
As of noon today (8/23/17), the new westbound toll plaza and ORT lanes are now in service. Demolition has begun on the former westbound toll plaza.
I posted the following to my Facebook and Twitter profiles when I got home:
https://twitter.com/route56/status/900484277564882945
(the FB post substitutes the KTA Twitter handle with a mention of the KTA's FB page).
It got liked and responded to at both locations.
On Facebook, the KTA replied "One of the first then as new westbound entry lanes opened about noon today at Eastern Terminal. Hope you enjoyed as much as we liked reaching this milestone!"
On twitter, a user commented:
https://twitter.com/cnhoward94/status/900525809668116481
To which the KTA noted:
https://twitter.com/KansasTurnpike/status/900528484753313792
The opening of the westbound ORT lane at the Kansas Turnpike's eastern terminal finally got to the local news media.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2017/sep/11/kansas-turnpikes-first-high-speed-toll-lane-now-op/
According to the article, the speed limit through the ORT lanes will be raised from 55 to 75 at the end of the project.
Another status update: the Kansas Turnpike now has ORT for East Topeka under advertisement.
Quote from: J N Winkler on September 14, 2017, 01:06:19 PM
Another status update: the Kansas Turnpike now has ORT for East Topeka under advertisement.
What does that look like?
It's the same basic concept as at the Eastern Terminal--stay on mainline if you have a K-Tag (or compatible transponder), exit to take ticket/pay cash--but it is kind of messy because of the way the East Topeka interchange now works. Only traffic following I-70 in either direction (to join or leave the Kansas Turnpike) gets ORT; all other tolled movements that do not follow the Turnpike mainline, such as westbound I-70 to eastbound US 40/K-4, must use either cash/ticket or low-speed K-Tag lanes.
The diagrammatic sign for westbound I-70 traffic is being replaced with an APL sign with separate lane assignment for the cash and K-Tag lanes. The ORT lanes are also being deflected a bit to the south so that they run along the southern edge of the current toll plaza footprint.
Edit: Here is the APL diagrammatic.
(https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/images/2/26/East-topeka-westbound-i-70-ort-apl.png)
Instructions for access to eastbound US 40/K-4 are given by a ground-mounted "East US 40/K-4 Keep Right" sign, which I do not think will be sufficient because it does not contain a positive instruction to use the cash lanes.
Quote from: J N Winkler on October 05, 2017, 04:21:54 PM
Instructions for access to eastbound US 40/K-4 are given by a ground-mounted "East US 40/K-4 Keep Right" sign, which I do not think will be sufficient because it does not contain a positive instruction to use the cash lanes.
In NYC, along the Outerbridge Crossing from NJ to Staten Island, there is a similar construction of thru lanes that are high speed EZ Pass only and an exit to toll booths for regular cash toll booths and EZPass toll booths to access Page Ave. I believe they did a very good job of signing this as shown here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5252907,-74.2362282,3a,75y,89.97h,93.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snr27MA1Siw0zEsRgnc4NLg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Quote from: mrsman on October 15, 2017, 12:34:46 AM
Quote from: J N Winkler on October 05, 2017, 04:21:54 PM
Instructions for access to eastbound US 40/K-4 are given by a ground-mounted "East US 40/K-4 Keep Right" sign, which I do not think will be sufficient because it does not contain a positive instruction to use the cash lanes.
In NYC, along the Outerbridge Crossing from NJ to Staten Island, there is a similar construction of thru lanes that are high speed EZ Pass only and an exit to toll booths for regular cash toll booths and EZPass toll booths to access Page Ave. I believe they did a very good job of signing this as shown here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5252907,-74.2362282,3a,75y,89.97h,93.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snr27MA1Siw0zEsRgnc4NLg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
That's a very common setup for ORT lanes. ISTHA uses it all over their tollways.
Examples:
Boughton Road Plaza (https://goo.gl/maps/2bv8vzKzHxJ2), I-355.
Meyers Road Plaza (https://goo.gl/maps/5TM8mNQBgUU2), I-88.
Elgin Plaza (https://goo.gl/maps/Z81sqc42yPD2), I-90.
Touhy Avenue Plaza (https://goo.gl/maps/bboX5onQsyT2), I-294.
DeKalb Plaza (https://goo.gl/maps/SWTzStogbxm), I-88.
From the latest newsletter:
Quote from: J N Winkler on October 05, 2017, 04:21:54 PM
Edit: Here is the APL diagrammatic.
(https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/images/2/26/East-topeka-westbound-i-70-ort-apl.png)
I take it Kansas does not like manned toll-plaza symbol (see Page 251 or 15 of 16 here) (https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009r1r2/part2f.pdf)?
Quote from: Revive 755 on November 16, 2017, 05:50:50 PM
Quote from: J N Winkler on October 05, 2017, 04:21:54 PM
Edit: Here is the APL diagrammatic.
(https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/images/2/26/East-topeka-westbound-i-70-ort-apl.png)
I take it Kansas does not like manned toll-plaza symbol (see Page 251 or 15 of 16 here) (https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009r1r2/part2f.pdf)?
ISTHA doesn't use it either, opting instead to use a large $ in a white circle.
To turn this around: is there any agency that actually uses the toll-taker symbol?
Quote from: J N Winkler on November 17, 2017, 11:09:57 AM
To turn this around: is there any agency that actually uses the toll-taker symbol?
I've never seen one, and that includes Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire.
I thought NJ used some form of it.
UPDATE! Eastbound ORT lane to open December 5:
Quote
Tomorrow is the day for K-TAG customers to keep moving at Eastern Terminal near Kansas City. On December 5, the newly converted Eastern Terminal will be fully operational. You may have already experienced the new open road tolling with westbound travel through the toll area. With this change, eastbound will be operational as well.
What changes should you expect?
* As a K-TAG user, instead of slowing down to 20 mph, you will continue to travel at highway speeds through the toll area, while cash travelers will exit right to pay their toll.
* Traffic conversion will take place in the afternoon.
* Going forward, in order to properly maintain equipment, routine maintenance will occur overnight and require lane closures.
* The highway speeds, for the next few months, will be lower than the rest of the roadway to allow for construction and technology crews. Please follow posted speed limits through the area. (The westbound ORT lane is posted at 55 MPH -RPK)
...
We're excited for this monumental occasion and look forward to our future open road tolling locations at East Topeka and Southern Terminal in the upcoming years. Learn more about open road tolling at www.ksturnpike.com/openroad
Here is publicity additional to what Richie just posted:
Wichita Eagle article: "New plaza lets Kansas Turnpike drivers bypass toll booth" (http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article187807793.html)
The Eagle article has a few minor ambiguities. The 10 mph limit for K-Tag users applies not to dedicated K-Tag lanes at toll plazas, which are subject to a 20 mph limit, but rather to shared cash/K-Tag lanes; and, while some preparation has been done for ORT at the Southern Terminal, I do not think a contract for it has yet been advertised.
Over Thanksgiving weekend I went to Kansas City and both legs of the journey carried me on the Turnpike between Exit 71 (K-254/K-196 El Dorado) and Exit 127 (US 50/I-35 Emporia). This was the first time I had travelled on the Turnpike since last August 23, and I used the dedicated K-Tag lanes as usual. I noticed that all of the internally illuminated "K-Tag Thank You" lights had been removed, as had the entry gate at Exit 71, and both exit and entry gates at Exit 127. The only gate I encountered was in the down position as I exited at Exit 71, and it raised as normal even though I had entered at Exit 127 significantly in excess of the 20 mph limit.
I recall reading in a past issue of the KTA's email newsletter ("Turnpike Times") that gates have now been removed at 10 toll plazas. I also strongly suspect that the detector equipment has been modified to eliminate the need for manual gate raises at the remaining gated lanes.
And additional publicity from Northeast Kansas:
Lawrence Journal-World: "Eastbound high-speed toll lane opens Tuesday on Kansas Turnpike between Lawrence, Kansas City" (http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2017/dec/04/eastbound-high-speed-toll-lane-opens-tuesday-kansa/)
The eastbound ORT lanes had not yet opened this morning during my normal commute on the Turnpike.
Kansas Turnpike toll prices are going up on October 1 (https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article215135055.html)
Part of the motivation for the increase is to widen the difference between K-Tag and cash rates to 25%. Currently it is about 15%. I interpret this as a sign that KTA is getting nearer to going full ETC, though even at 25% the disparity will be significantly less than on, say, the Illinois Tollway, where cash rates are double ETC rates.
Late to the party, but last year when driving through on my way to Minnesota, the toll booth lady said my TxTag was interoperable with the system and I was able to drive on through without stopping on the way back down.
Also is it weird that I kind of want to live at a service plaza for a month? I think it would be interesting to build a tiny house on a trailer, post up at one of the rural service plazas, and hang out interviewing travelers and blog about it from the WiFi hotspot at the Hardee's.
Quote from: Brandon on November 17, 2017, 12:00:36 PM
Quote from: J N Winkler on November 17, 2017, 11:09:57 AM
To turn this around: is there any agency that actually uses the toll-taker symbol?
I've never seen one, and that includes Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire.
NY and NY use it at barrier tolls and ONLY at barrier tolls. This does not include any of the bridge authorities. Of course, New York's 3 remaining barrier tolls are going away within the next couple years as part of an AET conversion.
UPDATE! ORT lanes at East Topeka will open on Wednesday.
Quote from: Kansas Turnpike Authority
Big Changes Wednesday at East Topeka Toll Plaza.
Beginning November 7, K-TAG customers will be able to keep moving through the East Topeka Toll Plaza and I-70 travel will become non-stop. The newly reconstructed plaza will transition to an open road method of toll collection late Wednesday morning, weather permitting, when two highway speed electronic lanes on westbound I-70/KTA open. A second highway speed electronic lane for eastbound I-70/KTA drivers will open November 9-13. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be sharing this information with local media.
What should you expect?
- As a K-TAG user, instead of slowing down to 20 mph, you will continue to travel at posted highway speeds through the toll area, while cash travelers will exit right to pay their toll.
- The speed limit on the highway speed lanes will be 65 mph due to the westbound I-70 speed limit toward Topeka. Please follow posted speed limits through the area.
- K-4 customers using K-TAG will use the dedicated electronic lane in the cash tolling area when entering or exiting the Turnpike.
- Extra crews will be in the area on Tuesday and Wednesday. Travelers should pay close attention through the tolling area during this transition period.
Keeping your K-TAG in good standing and adding your license plate information will help prevent a violation statement in case your K-TAG doesn’t read. You can manage your account online.
We’re excited for this milestone and look forward to completing our next open road tolling project at Southern Terminal in fall 2019. Learn more about open road tolling at www.ksturnpike.com/openroad
Also, here's a few photos taken back on Labor Day.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1937/44296479414_b6c140fe98_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2auk34G)
58944 (https://flic.kr/p/2auk34G) by Richie Kennedy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/richiekennedy56/), on Flickr
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1969/31143290668_26109bea7d_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Ps2vio)
58946 (https://flic.kr/p/Ps2vio) by Richie Kennedy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/richiekennedy56/), on Flickr
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1908/44967549862_668d31e19e_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2bvCrVQ)
58947 (https://flic.kr/p/2bvCrVQ) by Richie Kennedy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/richiekennedy56/), on Flickr
I went through the new ORT lanes at East Topeka on Sunday, and I noticed that the sign that was laid out in the CAD plans like this (from Johnathan):
(https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/images/2/26/East-topeka-westbound-i-70-ort-apl.png)
Turned out like this in the field:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7916/45535300385_869c26df4c_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2cnNjnX)
Ugghhhaaaahhh! Bubble shields! My eyes! It's burns! It burns!
:D
Yeah, KDOT they ain't.
The Cash Vehicles Pay Toll sign in the background looks like it's lifted straight from an OTA standards book. That's got to be one of the only times an Oklahoma signage practice has been emulated by another state, much less Kansas...
More photos:
There are two of the arrow-per-lane signs approaching the East Topeka exit. I just noticed that the first one omits "Wichita." (NSF those sensitive to bubble shields)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7893/44631244920_bc6651f4db_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2aZUNbL)
Also, because of the close proximity of the Oakland Expressway to the toll plaza, the ramps from westbound I-70 to the Oakland Expressway (eastbound US 40/K-4) and from the Oakland Expressway to eastbound I-70 are connected to the toll plaza ramps, leading to this message on westbound I-70
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4893/32575804068_a39bf7bf92_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RCBvCh)
The K-4 shield uses the 20-petal sunflower rotated 18 degrees
Quote from: Scott5114 on December 25, 2018, 07:21:12 AM
The Cash Vehicles Pay Toll sign in the background looks like it's lifted straight from an OTA standards book.
Here's a closeup:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4835/32575808748_29750f9bc5_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/RCBx1Y)
Note also that there is a KTAG lane in the Toll Plaza complex because of the ramps to/from the Oakland Expressway.
Sure enough. Here's the OTA equivalent, for comparison:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7686805,-96.6233599,3a,15y,57.6h,96.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8Crg3uodQgcATyCWnLESMg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Other than using a real arrow, putting a line break between PAY and TOLL, and cleaning up the margins, the KTA version is identical.
I should also point out that the "OTA" style signs are also in use at other ORT installation at the Eastern Terminal Toll Plaza.