TRANSPORTATION: Interim Open Road Tolling Solution Implemented in Florida.

The article reports on the implementation of an interim open road tolling (ORT) solution at four electronic toll plazas in Florida in an effort to decrease street congestion. The interim solution, dubbed ORT Lite, was conceptualized in December 2006 by a team at PBS&K led by Chris Lory. According to Lory, the success of the interim solution is based on an unusual design/build contract combined with a toll collection system that improves upon the conventional system but does not reach the complexity of a typical ort system. With the interim ort system, drivers paying tolls electronically travel on standard 12 feet highway lanes at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour, and an electronic system mounted on a monopole collects the tolls.