The John Kilpatrick Turnpike, which traverses through a large portion of eastern Canadian County, will not take coins anymore.
Motorists can keep moving on John Kilpatrick Turnpike instead of stopping to pay with change.
The turnpike was the first in the state to go cashless Sunday, July 25, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority reports.
New signs near the tool booths instruct motorists to “Keep Moving.”
The new cashless system called PlatePay will take a picture of the license plate on any vehicle without a PIKEPASS. An invoice will then be sent to the vehicle’s registered owner.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is moving away from a cash-collection system, OTA spokesman Jack Damrill said.
After converting the John Kilpatrick Turnpike, over the next four to five years, other systems across the state will change too.
OTA officials chose the Kilpatrick Turnpike – which has several exits in the Yukon area – to begin the changeover to the cashless PlatePay system.
More than 90% of Kilpatrick Turnpike travelers use PIKEPASS to pay their tolls with the rest paying by cash at toll booths.
“It’s a high-commuter traffic turnpike,” Damrill explained. “With that much traffic, this will allow us to ‘get our feet wet’ in a cashless system and make sure we have all the bugs worked out.”
Oklahoma is one of the last states to transition from a cash to a cashless turnpike toll system.
The PlatePay rate will higher than the PIKEPASS rate because of the cost to collect, the OTA spokesman said.
Staff Writer Conrad Dudderar contributed to this report.
