Five new Pattaya-area toll booths have opened on Highway 7, but will remain free until April 19.
Apichart Chansrap, deputy director of the Highways Department, said the opening of the booths marks the completion of the Chonburi end of the Bangkok-Chonburi Expressway.
The five new toll booths are located in Ban Bung, Bangpra, Nongkham, Pong, and Pattaya.
Rates will be one baht per kilometer driven, with the cost from Pattaya to Chonburi remaining 60 baht until April 18, when the toll will jump to 105 baht for cars, 170 baht for six-wheeled vehicles and 245 baht for 10-wheel trucks.
Chonburi residents accustomed to using Highway 7 locally for free pleaded for an exemption or some sort of accommodation. However, the Highways Department said such motorists should use access roads that run parallel to the motorway instead.
Highway 3701 and 3702 run along the 42 kilometers of the Pattaya-Chonburi stretch of Highway 7 and have numerous U-turns.
The department said more than 300,000 vehicles a day use Highway 7 paying more than 7 million baht in tolls.
