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First Coast Expressway nears completion

The First Coast Expressway is on the road to completion by the fall.

But there are new questions about the reliability of SunPass, the system across the state that collects tolls.

“I’ll try it out one time and see what it does,” says driver Roger Yarber. Tolls will cost anywhere from 20 cents to 85 cents to travel on the west side from I-10 to Blanding Boulevard in Clay County.

“I don’t know how I feel about driving to pay on a street,” says driver Katie Bodiford.

Drivers will use either a SunPass or have the system scan their plate.

However the toll system has taken a toll on drivers across Florida recently.

This week the Florida Department of Transportation said is was stopping payments to a company upgrading SunPass.

That’s because millions of transactions are not processing, resulting in what will be millions of dollars in surprise bills at a later date for drivers as well as tourists and those without a SunPass.

“I don’t anticipate problems and if there are still problems with the system, they will not charge tolls if those issues have not been worked out,” says Sara Pleasants with FDOT when asked about the First Coast Expressway.

But reportedly, the contractor behind the upgrade has a history of failing to process toll charges in at least seven other states and its led to lawsuits and fines.

“They got to come up with some special way of fixing it, that’s all I can say,” says Yarber.

The First Coast Expressway will be the first toll lanes in Northeast Florida since 1989 and more are to come in other parts of the area.