• Source:JND

Barrier-Free Toll Plaza:  The highway travel in India is set to become seamless as the country is set to introduce Barrier-Free Toll Collection by December 2026. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, recently announced the roll-out of barrier-free toll plazas on select highways and said that the country might go completely barrier-free by the end of 2026. The move is aimed at eliminating vehicle queues at the toll plazas by using advanced technology.

Barrier-Free Toll Plaza: What Is It?

Conventional toll plazas deduct toll fees by using a physical barrier, which stops vehicles, and the fee is deducted from the FASTag using the camera, or the vehicle owner pays through UPI. This often creates long queues of vehicles at the toll plaza and interrupts the free-flowing traffic. The barrier-free toll collection system is based on Multi-Lane Free Flow technology, which uses overhead frames with integrated sensors and cameras to detect vehicles and automatically deduct fees without disrupting traffic flow.

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Barrier-Free Toll Collection: How It Works?

As mentioned above, the barrier-free toll collection system uses an overhead frame that has sensors and cameras. The system also integrates FASTag with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology. The sensor detects the passing vehicle and uses high-performance AI cameras to read the number plate; meanwhile, the RFID sensors read the FASTag and automatically deduct the amount from the linked bank account. If the FASTag of the vehicle is inactive or missing, the camera identifies the vehicle using the number plate and directly sends an e-notice to the owner.

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Barrier-Free Toll Plaza: Benefits

The vehicles can pass through the toll points at a speed of 80 km/h without stopping or slowing down. This eliminates the need to stop at the toll plaza and reduces congestion, and this will also reduce the travel time on highways. Another benefit of the barrier-free toll collection is that it will improve the fuel efficiency, as vehicles will not be required to stop and wait.

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Barrier-Free Toll Plaza: Penalties

By using an advanced technology that integrates RFID readers with ANPR cameras, the barrier-free toll collection system ensures dual verification. If the system fails to deduct the toll fees due to the missing or invalid FASTag, the system sends an e-notice to the vehicle owner. If the vehicle owner still doesn’t pay the toll charges, the system will penalise them using the VAHAN database.

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Barrier-Free Toll Collection: Economic Impact

While the Barrier-Free toll collection system provides several benefits to the users, it will also create a large economic impact. As per several studies from IIT Kanpur, IIT Chennai, and IIM Bangalore, better road infrastructure has brought down the logistics costs from 16 per cent to 10 per cent. The barrier-free toll plazas will further reduce this cost by ensuring seamless highway operations. The government estimates suggest that the barrier-free toll collection will also plug revenue leakages and result in annual savings of up to Rs 8,000 crore.


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