FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:   Carol Goldwasser, Lee County Tolls
                (941) 489-1825

FORT MYERS, Fla. (January 22, 2001) – Lee County Commissioners are expected to approve an agreement Tuesday (Jan. 23) that will provide toll violation and speed enforcement on the Midpoint Memorial, Cape Coral and Sanibel Causeway bridges.

The agreement is with the Florida Highway Patrol and is for $66,760 a year. Special emphasis will be paid to the new "express" toll lanes on the Midpoint Memorial Bridge. The agreement calls for anywhere from one to three troopers to be on patrol at the bridges during random hours selected by the county. Off-duty troopers on special detail will do the enforcement.

Lee County opened the express lanes on the Midpoint Bridge in August. The two lanes in each direction allow prepaid toll account users to navigate the toll plaza without having to come to a stop. The motorist's transponder is simply read at speeds up to 15 miles per hour and his or her account is deducted. However, there has been revenue loss due to motorists passing through who aren’t part of the program.

"This will help reduce toll evaders and make the county’s bridges safer for everyone," says Carol Goldwasser, director of the Lee County Tolls Division.

Lee County’s Variable Pricing, or Discount, Tolls Program was begun in August 1998. The program, called LeeWay, allows prepaid account holders with transponders to receive 50 percent discounts on the required bridge toll during selected "off peak" hours as an incentive to change driving from peak to off peak times.

Those off peak times are Monday through Friday 6:30-to-7 a.m., 9-to-11 a.m., 2-to-4 p.m., and 6:30-to-7 p.m. The program is available only to prepaid accounts because the discount is automatically read and deducted from the customer's account at the toll plaza.

Local motorists have saved more than $800,000 since the program was instituted.

The "express" lanes allow motorists in the program to go through the toll plaza without being stopped by a tollgate arm. While this greatly improves convenience for motorists participating in the program, it also increases the occurrence of toll evaders