No cash tolls at Hugh L. Carey Tunnel

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Cash is no longer an acceptable form of payment at the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.)

A new system of automated toll booths at the crossing went into effect on January 4.

The program will be expanded to all bridges and tunnels in the New York metropolitan region by the end of next year.

The cashless system is part of  NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo's New York Crossings Project, which will also bring color LED lights to all Metropolitan Transportation Authority bridges as well as driver facial recognition cameras.

Officials say the new toll system collects money from drivers through E-Z Pass. Motorists who aren't signed up for E-Z Pass will have their license plates recorded and a bill will be sent to their home.

The 513 toll booth workers and agents employed by MTA Bridges and Tunnels have been reassigned to work under state police's enforcement division.

Cuomo called the development "long overdue."

With the Associated Press