The successful rollout of cashless tolling on E-470 could be pointing the way to the future of transportation funding - the ability to charge tolls without prepaid accounts or coins.

The cutting-edge system uses high-definition cameras to record the license plates of vehicles that pass through a toll plaza. The plate is then traced to the owner, who is billed.

"The industry is trending this way," said Ed DeLozier, E-470's executive director. "The last toll booth will be in the Smithsonian someday."

Such a system could be deployed on other roads, including some that motorists now use free. The result: a new source of money for highways and bridges badly in need of repair.

Bu it won't come without a political struggle. Republicans who were strong backers of tolling have grown skeptical even as statehouse Democrats have slowly embraced it. In addition, privacy advocates rebel at the Big Brother implications of tracking license plates.

Momentum for tolling is building. It would be allowed on certain roads under the transportation funding bill, called FASTER, that is working its way through the Colorado legislature. The bill also calls for higher vehicle registration fees.

Transportation planners are struggling to fix aging bridges, repave poor roads and provide new highways with dwindling financial resources.

In Colorado, they have targeted $500 million per year as the threshold just to fix what's broken now and an additional $1 billion per year to catch up on waiting projects. The gas tax, a major source of money for transportation, hasn't changed in 18 years and no longer covers the table.

High-tech tolling could provide a dedicated revenue stream for large projects that have no funding. The $850 million replacement of the aging Interstate 70 viaduct through Denver is among them.

With one license-plate scanning station on the viaduct, today's traffic numbers would generate slightly more than $100 million of bond financing for every 25 cents in tolls.

The FASTER bill doesn't require tolling anywhere but allows it when there is unanimous agreement among all the affected cities and counties, said Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, a sponsor of the FASTER bill.

"This use is certainly something that is being talked about," Rice said. "But I don't think any of us at the state level are talking about throwing up this kind of technology at any but a few locations."

As for E-470, it will do away with toll collectors on July 4 - a date both symbolic and practical, as it represents freedom from carrying around coins and a three-day weekend for highway crews to make needed changes.

The system of EXpressToll prepaid accounts and transponders remains. The new license-plate tolling means drivers who avoided E-470 because they had neither prepaid accounts nor coins in the ashtrays can use the road and just wait for a bill to be mailed to their homes.

Those drivers who sign up for prepaid accounts and transponders will get an immediate 10 percent discount, which is now given to current customers. If they don't want an account, they can pay the bill by mail, online or by phone.

If drivers don't pay within 30 days, each toll on their bill will be converted into a violation with a $7 fee. If that's not paid, it leads to an additional $70 fine per unpaid toll.

Jon Caldara, a tolling advocate and head of the free-market Independence Institute think tank in Golden, said Republicans have looked more to polling than to tolling lately and that's cooled them off on the idea.

Polls show the public generally doesn't like tolling, Caldara said, making it a tough sell in these hard times. Not too long ago, Republicans were the leading advocates for tolling.

Caldara said he could support tolling with two caveats. One, tolls should be higher during peak travel times and near nothing when traffic lets up. Two, tolling should replace rather than augment the gas tax.

"People still aren't comfortable with tolling," he said. "They have to understand that this is not our daddy's tolling anymore."

Still, he is uncomfortable with license plate tolling that could allow government to track people.

In fact, Dave Kristick, E-470's operations manager, said the new cameras can be programmed to sound an alert when selected plates are keyed in - for example, a frequent toll violator, an Amber Alert or a stolen vehicle.

"There's a whole bunch of people watching us to see how this is working," Kristick said.

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247

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