Tappan Zee Bridge will only accept EZ Pass or scan your license plates starting April

Toll booths at the Tappan Zee Bridge are going bye-bye Saturday, April 23.

The New York State Thruway Authority will make the Hudson River span cashless, accepting just EZ Pass or charging and scanning the license plates of cars without it, sending a bill to the owners.

The toll will be $4.75 for EZ Pass users and $5 for non-EZ Pass users. EZ Pass transponders from any state will be accepted.

All drivers will be able to stay at highway speed as they drive under the structure.

The existing toll plaza on the Westchester County side of the 3-mile bridge in Tarrytown will be demolished and a steel structure will built to scan transponders.

“Cashless tolling builds on those advancements by making it safer and more convenient for drivers to pay their tolls. This technology, which is being used on many roads and bridges around the nation, will also ease highway congestion and help the environment by reducing idling," New York State Thruway Authority Interim Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Maria Lehman said of the change.

A temporary steel structure on the Rockland County side in Nyack will collect tolls while the plaza is torn down and the new structure is built.

New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation in January to increased the penalties for toll evaders that will suspend the registration of motorists who fail to pay five tolls, fees and other charges with 18 months.

The bridge, opened to traffic in 1955, carries 130,000 vehicles per day, which is far more traffic than it was designed to carry, according to the Thruway Authority. A new bridge called the New York Bridge is being built next to the existing structure at a cost of nearly $4 billion.