The Maine Turnpike Authority plans to upgrade its electronic toll collection system so it is compatible with the E-ZPass system used in surrounding states.

The upgrade from the Transpass system will cost $9.25 million and will not be fully online until 2004. There will be no increase in tolls because of the upgrade, according to officials.
Under the plan, the Maine Turnpike will replace all Transpass transponders and activate the updated system by the fall of 2003. Interstate compatibility, however, will not be available until spring of 2004.
When interstate compatibility is achieved in 2004, Maine subscribers will be able to pay their tolls electronically on more than 40 toll roads, bridges and tunnels in the eastern United States.
Launched in September 1997, the Maine Turnpike's Transpass system was one of the first highway electronic toll paying systems in the northeast -- the first in New England. The New York Thruway was the only other highway in the region collecting tolls electronically. No technology or brand dominated the industry and compatibility between states was still a distant vision.
Since then, E-ZPass has become the standard in the Northeast. It is used in at least eight Northeastern states. More than 5 million E-ZPass transponders are currently in use in New York and New Jersey. More than 3 million have been issued in Massachusetts.