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April 11, 2012
The toll gantry on La. 1 near Leeville will soon feature new toll payment services.
“The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development will offer a new in-lane service option or cash lane for motorists at the La. 1 toll road in Lafourche Parish,” said Bambi Hall, public information officer with DOTD. “The in-lane payment machines will help drivers by offering multiple payment solutions for non-GeauxPass or non-toll tag customers.”
The new machines accept coins, cash – even though the exact change is not necessary – credit cards and debit cards.
“The machines will eliminate the need for motorists to exit their vehicles to pay their toll,” Hall said. “The booths will be accessed from the right lane of La. 1 and will offer two heights via stacked or dual user-screens to accommodate various vehicles, from a subcompact car to a semi-truck.”
Current GeauxPass or toll tag account holders may continue paying tolls using their online accounts or stopping by the Golden Meadow Customer Service Center
Additionally, a canopy will be installed to protect motorists from adverse weather conditions.
According to Hall, the toll area sees about 9,342 vehicles a day in traffic in both directions.
“This new booth will be an improvement for everyone that is not from the area,” said Evan Harrell, public information officer with Louisiana State Police Troop C. “The previous booths were a little confusing for people from out of town.”
Work on the project began April 2 and is scheduled to be completed by this week. During the work, one of the two southbound lanes of the roadway was closed, and heavy truck loads more than 14 feet wide and heading south required a police escort to stop north bound traffic to enable them to travel on the left side (north bound lane) at the gantry.
“This is the main route for wide load trucks that are heading south, so we have done quite a few escorts this week,” Harrell said. “Southbound is down to one lane right now, so we block off the northbound lanes to move the wide loads.”
According to Harrell, disruption to traffic flow during the work was minimal.
“Traffic flow in the one open lane southbound is going well, and there have been no big fluctuations,” she said.
Width restriction changes in the open southbound lane were expected, but those did not cause any traffic flow problems.
“The width restrictions allowed space for the construction of machine,” Hall said. “Construction activity will include constructing a concrete island, installing in-lane payment machines, and other miscellaneous work to accommodate the cash lane option.”
The toll gantry on La. 1 near Leeville now features new toll payment services and those paying a toll will no longer have to exit his or her vehicle to pay the toll.
