The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission issued a travel advisory for drivers of wide loads who plan to travel westbound on I-78 from New Jersey to Pennsylvania next week.

The Commission’s toll plaza for the I-78 Toll Bridge will have its widest mixed-mode lane (cash and E-ZPass transactions) taken out of service for a series of upgrades as part of a system-wide modernization of the agency’s toll collection system. This is the far right lane at the toll plaza.

Because the remaining three mixed-mode lanes at the conventional barrier toll plaza are too narrow to handle wide loads, commercial vehicles exceeding the 8-foot-6-inch legal width limit, will need to use the facility’s Express E-ZPass facility.

The wide-load travel restriction at the I-78 Toll Plaza will take effect with the shutdown of the far-right toll lane beginning 7 p.m. Sunday, March 19, and continuing until noon, Saturday, March 25.

Since any westbound vehicle exceeding the legal width limit is required to obtain a permit from the Commission, applicable drivers of wide loads and their escorts will be advised of the need to have E-ZPass when seeking a permit. This should not be an issue since the preponderance of truck drivers regularly use E-ZPass to pay their tolls. More than 87 percent of truck toll transactions recorded at I-78 last month were processed through E-ZPass. Tolls are collected in the westbound direction only at the Commission’s I-78 Toll Bridge.