The global shift from toll plazas to free-flow tolling

For most of the 20th century, collecting a toll meant stopping a vehicle. Over the past three decades that assumption has been abandoned, first on a handful of pioneering roads, then on whole networks. The timeline below uses projects documented on FreeFlowToll.

The pioneers (1995–2010)

• 1995, California: the 91 Express Lanes opened as one of the world’s first fully automated toll facilities. The original Orange County section was privately developed and was acquired by OCTA in 2003; VINCI Highways became a contracted service provider later.
• 2000, Melbourne: CityLink introduced large-scale multi-lane free-flow tolling, reading transponders at freeway speed and handling more than 600,000 transactions a day.
• 2007, Dubai: Salik launched a toll system with no booths at all.
• 2010, Texas: the North Texas Tollway Authority converted its entire network to cashless tolling.

These early schemes were mostly new roads or urban networks designed around electronic tolling from day one.

Converting whole networks (2010–2020)

The next step was to convert existing systems. Taiwan switched its national freeways to distance-based multi-lane free flow on 30 December 2013, with passive RFID eTag stickers. Norway automated all its toll stations under AutoPASS. In the United States, toll authorities such as the New York State Thruway moved from booths to all-electronic tolling, while heavy-vehicle charging in Europe went satellite-based: Germany from 2005, Slovakia in 2010, Belgium in 2016 and the Czech Republic in 2019.

The current wave (2020–2027)

• France authorised barrier-free tolling in 2019; the A79 opened in November 2022, Sanef converted the A14 and A13 in 2024, and ATMB plans the A40 for 2027.
• India opened its first multi-lane free-flow toll plaza at Choryasi on NH-48 in May 2026, combining FASTag RFID readers and ANPR cameras.
• Brazil introduced free flow in 2023; by mid-2026 it operated on 15 concessions with 77 gantries.
• The Netherlands launched a satellite-based truck toll in July 2026.
• Singapore moves road pricing from gantries to GNSS with ERP 2 on 1 January 2027.

Why operators make the switch

Free flow removes queues and stop-and-go traffic at plazas, frees land and reduces the cost of running toll lanes. It also makes pricing more flexible: Dubai introduced peak and off-peak toll rates in 2025, and express lanes in the United States adjust prices to traffic in real time.

What makes it hard

The barrier disappears, but the business problems remain and some get harder:

• Collection: in Korea Expressway Corporation’s smart-tolling pilot, 78.3% of plate-based charges were unpaid after 15 days.
• Foreign and occasional users: identifying a vehicle is easier than collecting from its owner across borders, which is why interoperability and EETS providers matter.
• Customer experience: post-journey payment shifts the burden onto users, who must know where and when to pay.
• Jobs and privacy: Korea’s nationwide rollout debate cites 4,179 toll collection staff and the collection of travel records for all vehicles.

The outlook

The direction is clear: few new tolling schemes are designed with barriers. The open questions are about the mix of technologies, the design of back offices and enforcement, and how to keep payment simple for users who never see a toll booth.