Starting Friday, there is no reason to carry cash when driving on the Polk Parkway.
Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise is converting an 18-mile portion of the highway to electronic tolling, meaning that cash will no longer be accepted at toll plazas or exits.
Booths and receptacles accepting cash have been removed at 10 toll points on the Polk Parkway between Airport Road (milepost 3) and the Eastern Mainline Plaza (milepost 21), the state agency said in a news release.
The Turnpike Enterprise has demolished cash stations at Western Mainline (milepost 8), Central Mainline (milepost 13), and State Road 540 New Mainline (milepost 15.5), replacing toll booths with electronic, free-flow toll gantries. The change also affects interchange ramps at Airport Road, Waring Road, Harden Boulevard, South Florida Avenue, Lakeland Highlands Road and Old Dixie Highway (County Road 546), Communications Manager Ivette Ruiz-Paz said by email.
Installation of the new gantries is part of a $32 million project that began in June 2021 and is scheduled for completion in late 2024.
“Electronic tolling allows drivers to keep a steady pace on Polk Parkway and eliminates the need to stop and pay for tolls,” Ruiz-Paz wrote in the email. “It also means that the customer’s interaction on the roadway is seamless — no toll booths to navigate, no jockeying for position coming out of a plaza when the lanes merge, and no fumbling for cash in what is becoming a primarily cashless society.”
With no option to pay in cash, drivers will be charged either by SunPass, an electronic transponder, or through a Toll-by-Plate system. Drivers may obtain SunPass transponders, small devices that attach to a vehicle’s windshield, for $4.99 plus tax for a non-removal “Mini” or $14.95 plus tax for a SunPass PRO, which can be moved among vehicles.
Drivers with SunPass accounts are billed monthly based on records of their passage through toll stations. Toll rates have long been discounted for SunPass users, compared to the cash charge.
The Toll-by-Plate system detects the license plates of vehicles passing through toll stations. The agency encourages drivers to link a debit or credit card to a Toll-by-Plate account. Otherwise, customers will face a $2.50 administrative charge for each invoice mailed.
The project includes installation of new signs, pavement markings and lighting throughout the 18-mile stretch of highway, the Turnpike Enterprise said.
Cash toll stations have already been removed on many of the state’s toll roads, including Florida’s Turnpike and the Suncoast Parkway.
Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise did not respond to an email asking whether toll takers would receive new assignments.