Tampabay: Low-cost rides on Suncoast Parkway to end May 6

For nearly three months, drivers have been able to make most local trips on the Suncoast Parkway for free and drive from Hernando County to Hillsborough County for a buck.

These free rides -- and the cheap ones -- are set to end May 6, when the Turnpike District of the state Department of Transportation begins charging tolls at two interchanges, on County Line Road and State Road 50, as well at a toll plaza in north Pasco County.

Currently, the district charges tolls at only two locations -- at the toll plaza in south Pasco and at the State Road 54 interchange.

The openings in May will leave only one closed booth -- at Van Dyke Road in Hillsborough County -- and this should open a few weeks later, said Joanne Hurley, spokeswoman for the Parkway project.

The district gave drivers a break on tolls for two weeks after the parkway opened in February. Since then, the district has been unable to charge at most booths because the booths have not been finished. The contractors still have not installed equipment for special SunPass lanes.

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