Drivers who use the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge will experience a change to the tolling system in coming weeks.
The biggest change will be to the bridge’s tolling system for people who cross the US-Canada border on a regular basis.
Currently, drivers who use the automated system must have a physical prox toll card with them and flash it at booth to get across the bridge. That can be a little tricky in the winter months and for semi-truck drivers.
Soon a new automated system will allow drivers to go right through without having to flash cards.
Peter Petainen is the director of the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge. He said these drivers will only need a tag on their windshield.
"You just pull into the booth with if you have a tag on your windshield the gate will come up it'll deduct from your account and off you drive nice."
The changes to the tolling system are coming as traffic across the bridge is slowly rising back to pre-pandemic levels.
According to Petainen, bridge crossings are at 66% of what they were before the pandemic when 1.3 million vehicles crossed in 2019.
"We're starting to see our commuters and our new tag users coming back, which is a really good thing. Traffic is picking up fairly steadily since October 1st of last year," said Petainen.
The toll changes take effect March 31st. They’re part of an initiative to modernize the U.S. Canada crossing in Michigan, including the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron.
Visiting tolls.saultbridge.com allows customers to manage their toll accounts to make one-time payments or set up automatic repayments, request new or replacement tags and more.
