5.0 Toll Collection Equipment Technology

5.5.3 Recommended Guidelines

Tollbooth Design Issues

• The tollbooth horizontal clearance from the face of the toll island curb or a raised barrier must accommodate easy exchange of money between attendant and user for all vehicles types including motorcycles while also avoiding contact with any vehicle, vehicle cargo, or vehicle attachment as it maneuvers to come within arms reach of the attendant.
• The combined height of the toll island and tollbooth floor tends to improve servicing drivers of high cab trucks and worsen the ability to exchange money with low profile sports cars. For obvious safety reasons, the attendant should not stray from the booth to service any vehicle.
• Policy provisions for the attendant to enter the toll lane when safe to retrieve dropped money or other valuables that minimizes the time the attendant is outside the tollbooth.
• The appropriateness of using bollards in advance of the tollbooth that may partially block the vision of the attendant, degrade the aesthetics of the plaza and possibly discourage drivers from positioning their vehicle, particularly those with extended mirrors or other overhanging apparatus, close enough to the booth to complete a transaction.
• For manual collection lanes providing an ETC capability, the ability of a driver of an ETC equipped vehicle that fails to record a valid ETC transaction to be able to quickly maneuver their vehicle into position to pay the attendant before exiting the lane.

Tollbooth Guideline Development:

• The horizontal clearance from the face of the toll island curb or raised barrier to the side of the tollbooth from where the attendant collects tolls must allow the exchange of money and receipts with drivers of all vehicle types while also providing sufficient separation to avoid having the vehicle come into contact with the booth. Recently constructed toll facilities have commonly used a 12 inch horizontal clearance with good results. Clearances closer to 18 inches and 6 inches, considered practical upper and lower limits, respectively, may be equally effective. However, clearances closer to 18 inches makes exchanges for attendants of smaller stature more difficult for servicing trucks and those closer to 6 inches may unnecessarily increase the likelihood of damage to the tollbooth. Therefore, a nominal12 inch is the recommended for horizontal clearance.
• The combined height of the toll island and toll booth floor above the toll lane pavement surface primarily works to the detriment of the attendant in servicing low profile sports cars. The height of the toll islands in existing plazas varies based on agency preference in deeming an appropriate height, subject to any referenced or adopted standards. From a safety perspective, the toll island should be a minimum height of six (6) inches, which is equivalent to municipal and state standards for arterial roadway curbs. However, added protection is warranted for the safety of the collector and protection of the agency’s investment in equipment and the tollbooth installed on the toll island. This is particularly relevant with the addition of ETC capability that commonly results in higher speeds through the lane. The FHWA “Green Book” defines a barrier curb as eight (8) inches. A height exceeding this exacerbates the difficulty of servicing low profile sports vehicles, although an additional inch of island height may be used. For new facilities, the recommended height is eight (8) inches. The height of the tollbooth floor above the toll island surface can be mitigated by constructing a blockout in the concrete island to accommodate both a wireway for cables and any ducts plus the depth of the tollbooth floor. Consequently the height of the tollbooth floor above the toll island surface is limited to the thickness of a rubber mat or pad that is commonly used in tollbooths.
• On occasion the attendant needs to leave the tollbooth to retrieve dropped money or other valuables from the toll lane. Although agency policy may require the attendant to close the lane before leaving the booth and walking into the lane, in cases where strict adherence is not enforced or no related policy exists, the tollbooth design must provide quick and easy access to the toll lane for both safety and operational considerations. A tollbooth invariably provides two doors, typically in opposing walls, for the attendant to have an escape route if one of the doors becomes blocked. Clearly, access to the lane from the door that is opened to exchange money and receipts provides the quickest path to the lane. This is easily accommodated for a booth design incorporating just a sliding dutch door at the front of the booth. For a booth design that also incorporates a low height wall forming a “porch” that extends a very short distance from the side of the booth, the front of this wall must open and close. The recommended tollbooth design includes a front door that 1) allows the attendant to service all vehicle types while providing protection against straying into the lane; and 2) provides a means for the attendant to quickly enter the lane and then return to the booth, when traffic conditions permit.
• Vehicles with extended mirrors and other apparatus or objects protruding from the side of the vehicle can easily damage the tollbooth and possibly injure the attendant as the vehicle maneuvers to pull up close to the booth and then departs without pulling away until further down the lane. This problem has been addressed by some agencies by the installation of near booth height bollards in front of the tollbooth and with the same horizontal clearance as the tollbooth to the lane. Given the operational shortcomings of trying to control the path of the vehicle in the toll lane, bollards are likely the least obtrusive solution available. However, the issues with using bollards as identified above are not easily mitigated. A near booth height bollard installed in front of the tollbooth will partially block the vision of the attendant at some angle of view. Some agencies have installed lower height bollards that do not extend above the bottom sill of the to tollbooth window. While these bollards cannot protect the booth from extended mirrors and other objects protruding from the side of trucks, a limited amount of booth protection from errant vehicles is provided. To assure high visibility the bollards must be painted a distinctive color, which effectively highlights a feature that can only be viewed as an eyesore that negatively impacts plaza aesthetics. The distinctive colored bollard will also attract the attention of approaching vehicles that will be less inclined to maneuver to close to the booth to avoid coming into contact with the bollard. For the vehicles the bollards are primarily intended to protect against, the distance between the vehicle and the booth may make it difficult for the attendant to safely handle the transaction. Based on these shortcomings, the use of bollards to protect the tollbooth is not recommended. Use of the proper horizontal clearance should be used to protect the tollbooth from passing vehicles and ramparts and mass concrete formations, such as platters, should be used to protect the booth and attendant from errant vehicles. For existing installations with insufficient horizontal clearance, bollards may provide the best means for protecting the booth and attendant as well as toll equipment after consideration of all reasonable alternatives.
• The ability of an ETC accountholder who fails to obtain a valid ETC transaction in a manual lane to quickly maneuver their vehicle to the booth to pay the attendant is dependent on the width of the toll lane, the vehicles lateral/transverse position in the lane and the driver’s longitudinal location when the PTD’s stop pay toll message is noticed. Since the ETC antenna is commonly installed just before the tollbooth door to minimize the software complications of handling RF signal reflections, the driver must be watching the PTD to react quickly enough to be in position to pay a toll. The ETC accountholder may put their vehicle in reverse to get into a position to pay the attendant. This creates a very unsafe situation. The two recommended solutions, in the order listed, for handling this problem are to 1) move the antenna location upstream if the software can support this location; 2) add VES equipment (i.e., front and rear cameras if necessary) to the lane to capture the vehicle’s license plate and modify the software to provide a green light if a transponder Agency Code is read, regardless of account status. The PTD would only display a toll due message.

Toolbooth Design Guidelines

Table of Contents | List of Tables | List of Figures | Previous Section | Next Section | HOME