State transportation officials say drivers will pay 15 to 24 cents per mile to drive on the Triangle Expressway when it's complete. The North Carolina Turnpike Authority announced this week drivers will be charged electronically to use the road. The state will start selling transponders this fall that connect to a prepaid account. Sensors on the road will deduct 15 cents per mile along the way. Drivers don't have to buy a transponder, but cameras will photograph their license plates and send a bill through the mail for 24 cents per mile.
Turnpike Authority executive director David Joyner says the tolls will make up for a loan the state had to acquire to finish the road.
"Very simply, there was no other way to pay for it. The cost of construction has just gone through the roof. This project cost over $1 billion to build and maintain and the state just didn't have the money."
The Expressway is a nearly 19-mile road under construction from Morrisville to Holly Springs. Joyner says it will cut 20 minutes off that commute.
