The process of selecting a contractor to install the tolling system for the Ohio River Bridges Project takes another step Monday.The joint board for the bridges project will identify a potential toll systems provider, said Chuck Wolfe, a spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.Before any contract is signed a public hearing must be held, which Wolfe said will most likely happen at the end of this month. Toll collection is scheduled to begin in 2016. Wolfe said installing the system well ahead of that date is imperative to establish proper functionality.He added the tolling system that will be put in place will be “state of the art.” “There are no toll plazas, there are no coin receptacles,” he said. “It is all done electronically, you don’t even have to slow down the traffic keeps moving at expressway speed.”Last year, toll rates ranging from $1 to $12 were approved. Wolfe said this week's decision is a “significant step” in the development process. “The purpose of tolls is to pay the difference between the total cost of the project and what the states were able to put up in traditional highway funding,” he said.There are currently no tolls in Kentucky, he said.
