$16M push to eliminate Bedford toll booths to begin this fall
Jun. 17—A $16 million project to tear down the Bedford Toll Plaza on the F.E. Everett Turnpike and convert the toll location to cashless transactions only is set to begin this fall.
All Electronic Tolling (AET) has been in operation in Dover and Rochester since the fall of 2022, with construction there to be completed in a few months, according to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.
Last Thursday, the day after a presentation on the project to the Bedford Town Council, a Nashua man was killed when his car crashed into a toll booth and was engulfed in flames.
Large overhead metal structures referred to as gantries will be installed to collect vehicle information from E-ZPass transponders or license plate photographs as cars pass at highway speeds. Vehicles without transponders have seven days to pay online before bills go out in the mail.
"The goal of this project is to improve capacity and safety by eliminating the fixed objects within the roadway — so the toll booths themselves," Bureau of Turnpikes project manager Sam Newsom told the council last week.
During his presentation, Newsom showed pictures of the Dover gantries mounted overhead.
"As you see, there is nothing in the roadway, so it will help safety in that regard," Newsom said. "It also improves travel and efficiency by increasing capacity by not having to stop for the tolls."
The new gantries in Bedford will be constructed about 1,500 feet north of the plaza. Those going to the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport still won't have to pay tolls.
The switch is expected to reduce a large number of crashes at the plaza, which require local emergency units to respond. Future maintenance costs also will be lower, Newsom said.
The work calls for reconstructing about 1,100 feet of roadway and reducing the 13 toll lanes to six — three in each direction. The lanes will match work being done to widen the turnpike.
"We will only have six lanes under the AET gantry because we won't need so many lanes for cash collection," Newsom said.
Some members asked why some cash booths won't be maintained, as in Hooksett.
The cost of construction and maintenance would be higher for both, Newsom said.
Construction bids will be advertised for this summer, with work set to begin in the fall. The demolition of the toll structures isn't expected until the summer of 2026, with the entire project wrapping up in 2027. The work includes tearing down the structures and filling in tunnels that run underneath the plaza for employee access.
Work in Rochester continues with the installation of sound walls along the northbound lanes, which is expected to be completed by the end of next month, according to a DOT spokesperson.
In Dover, traffic is in a temporary lane shift to accommodate construction of the median.
Both projects are set to wrap up with final paving and markings done by mid-September.
