FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Amy Davies, Lee County Department of Transportation
              (239) 479-8589

LEE COUNTY MAKING MIDPOINT TOLL FACILITY CHANGES TO LINK WITH SUNPASS

FORT MYERS, Fla. (October 3, 2003) - Starting Monday (Oct. 6), Lee County will be installing new equipment at the Midpoint Bridge Toll Facility to make it compatible, eventually, with Florida's SunPass System and other integrated toll agencies. The county made similar changes to the Sanibel Causeway Toll Facility in August.

The equipment - antennas and readers - will be installed starting Monday night until completion by the weekend.

The goal is to integrate Lee County's system with the statewide SunPass System by early 2004.

The cost of the hardware for the project is about $450,000.

Once the equipment is installed, transponders will issue a "beeping" sound as they go through the toll plaza. If you want to disable the beep, you must go to the LeeWay Service Center at 1366 Colonial Boulevard on the Fort Myers side of the Midpoint Memorial Bridge.

Once complete next year, people using transponders for any of the integrated toll systems in the state will be able to use them on Lee County's toll bridges and vice versa.

With the installing of the new equipment, there may be some bugs to work out, especially with Lee County's complicated discount toll system. Lee DOT is asking the patience of transponder customers if they experience problems.