Two years from now, the westbound approach to the Bay Bridge could look radically different.
That row of toll booths that long served as a border between Oakland and San Francisco will be demolished, replaced with an open runway. Drivers will pass under a gantry with cameras and sensors to read the FasTrak tags in their windshields. In this frictionless future, people will pay their bridge toll while cruising at 65 mph, gazing out at the frothy breakers and the vast blue sky.
To anyone who grew up playing a game of sit-and-wait at the Bay Bridge toll plaza, this change could be mind-blowing, said John Goodwin, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which operates the region’s seven state-owned bridges. All of them are converting to open-road tolling, starting this month with the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and proceeding next year with Antioch and Carquinez.
The modernization is set to wrap up in 2028, when workers install high-tech gadgetry on the Benicia-Martinez, San Mateo and Dumbarton bridges, saving the Bay Bridge for last…