I-95 toll plaza getting high speed EZ Pass lanes

Construction on high speed lanes at the Newark toll plaza near the Delaware-Maryland line is now underway.

In an effort to ease the bottleneck that forms during high traffic times at the Delaware-Maryland border, Delaware transportation officials are starting construction on high speed EZ Pass lanes.

The project, which will be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is getting underway today.  The new high speed lanes will be similar to what is already in place at the Biddles Toll Plaza and the Dover Toll Plaza along Route 1.  Because drivers won’t have to slow down to fit between toll booths to pay their toll via EZ Pass, delays should be reduced.  During the major holiday travel times like Memorial Day and Labor Day, more than 100,000 cars a day pass through the toll plaza.  DelDOT officials say current toll lanes can handle 350 to 400 cars or trucks per hour.  Once construction is complete, the new high speed EZ Pass lanes will be able to process about 2,000 vehicles per hour.

The project will require temporary lane closures and reduced toll lanes, but to diminish the impact on traffic, those closures will happen between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and on a limited basis from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.

You can find artist renderings of what the new toll plaza will look like on DelDOT’s website.