TULSA, Okla. — Toil at the toll, like what actress Jennifer Garner experienced at an Oklahoma turnpike in 2019, is fading out of the Sooner State.
Drivers taking the Creek Turnpike will no longer have to search for nickels, dimes, and quarters beginning Feb. 7 at 10 p.m.
“Those coin machines, they’re obsolete. A lot of them, parts aren’t even made anymore so maintenance is a lot of times impossible to be done on those coin machines,” said Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesperson TJ Gerlach.
The PlatePay camera will capture a picture of your license plate and send a bill in the mail.
“PlatePay makes a safer environment for drivers by removing toll booths and creating a free flow of traffic and eliminates sudden speed changes when motorists maneuver lanes and stop to pay with cash. The toll rate for PlatePay transactions is higher than PIKEPASS transactions to account for the higher administrative and processing costs of collection. This rate will be monitored, and responsibly managed as cashless tolling is further implemented across the turnpike network over time and as the administrative and processing costs of collection are clearer,” Gerlach said.
If you’d like to opt out of traditional mail, you can download an app called PlusPass.
If you use PIKEPASS, you’ll receive lower rates.
“The Creek Turnpike, it’s going to be about $5.80 to drive from the Turner Turnpike to the Will Rogers Turnpike so from one end completely to the other or the opposite way as well. Using a PIKEPASS the cost is just around half that about $3.00,” Gerlach said.
Gerlach said safety is the number one reason for going cashless.
“You have people merging on and off as well as stopping for the toll itself, so there’s just a lot of collisions in these areas,” he said.
“Without manned toll booths, we don’t have to worry about workers crossing lanes to get into the toll booth or the toll booths themselves being hit which has happened plenty of times in the past,” he added.
The Creek Turnpike is the seventh turnpike in Oklahoma convert to cashless. All turnpikes in Oklahoma will go cashless by the end of 2024.
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