Historic Shrewsbury toll bridge to see first price increase in 13 years and offer contactless payment
A historic bridge over the River Severn is moving into the 21st century with four new toll barriers that will operate by contactless card payment.
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The Kingsland Bridge Company, which owns and runs Shrewsbury’s Kingsland Bridge toll road between Murivance and Kingsland, has revealed the latest part of its modernisation project.
The first part of the project took place last June with the installation of new parking machines providing a card-only payment system.
Now, four new toll barriers are set to be installed in the coming weeks, which will replace the previous cash payment barrier machines.
“The new technology is a major leap forward for the company,” said Kingsland Bridge Company director James Hodgson.
“The money we receive from the tolls and parking enable the company to continue maintaining a vital route in and out of Shrewsbury town centre for motorists.
“Following the introduction of the new parking machines last June we have seen a significant increase in the number of vehicles parking at the bridge, which reflects the benefit to our customers wishing to pay by card only.”
With the introduction of the new card-only barriers, the Kingsland Bridge Company has also announced an increased toll fee from 20p to 30p. The price has remained unchanged since 2012, when the price doubled from 10p to 20p.
The low price meant the bridge was at one point the second-cheapest toll road in the country.
Mr Hodgson explained: “We have found that there are now many of our customers who no longer use cash to make payments so the change to a contactless card payment system for the new toll barriers was inevitable due to the technological world we now live in.
“At the same time, we have noticed that banks are also increasingly reluctant to handle cash transactions.
“The introduction of the card-only payment system for the parking machines was well-received and we hope our loyal customers will be similarly supportive of the new toll barrier installation arrangement.
“As with the introduction of any new system there will inevitably be teething problems, but fingers crossed we hope these will be minor. The new technology will enable an interchange of lanes that will provide a flexible middle lane both in and out of town should traffic conditions determine.
“As soon as we are happy the new barriers are working effectively we will hopefully be offering customers the opportunity to purchase a multi-crossing facility."
The work will take place during the week commencing February 3. The company is advising customers of potential inconvenience during the "critical period of work" and asking for their understanding and patience.
