The worlds smartest highway opens tomorrow. So far, Highway 407 runs 36 km between Brampton and Markham, Ontario. Eventually it will cover an additional 33 km, and cost a total of $929.8 million over $13,000 per meter. What does that buy for Ontario commuters? The highway has a series of UHF radio antennae that pick up signals from small transponders installed in commuters vehicles. The highway measures the distance a vehicle travels, and deducts a per-kilometer fee from the owners credit card or prepaid account. The fee is 10 cents per kilometer in rush hour, 7 cents in off-peak hours, and 4 cents at night. Thats not a first a few U.S. toll highways have similar systems. But the 407 is the first highway able to send bills to drivers without transponders, without stopping them at toll booths. Overhead gantries along the highway take video images of license plates as vehicles travel the highway. The bill comes in the mail with a $1 premium. Ontario expects to pull in $40 million a year from Highway 407 tolls in theory. The license-plate billing system has never been tested under heavy traffic. The highway will be watching but not charging for the next 30 days or so, while Hughes Aircraft and Bell Canada, the companies who designed the system, hammer out the kinks. Related links: Canadian Highways International Corporation -30- Copyright ) 1997 Convergent Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. [INLINE] Canadian Highways International Corporation http://www.chichwys.com http://www.theconvergence.com