RALEIGH, N.C., May 19 (UPI) -- North Carolina officials have concluded a two-week test of equipment that could become the backbone of a toll highway without tollbooths.
The Research Triangle Expressway will instead use unmanned cameras to monitor vehicles on the road and automatically send a regular bill to motorists.
"This is the first toll road in North Carolina, and it has to open in a way that people see it as convenient," Jim Eden, chief operating officer of the North Carolina Turnpike Authority, told The News & Observer in Raleigh.
The testing took place along Interstate 40 where different companies took turns using their equipment to photograph license plates of passing cars.
The 18-mile toll road is to open in 2011. The newspaper said eliminating the need for permanent tollbooths will shave $60 million off the project's price tag.