Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media cashless tolling on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge will go into effect on Mon., Nov. 1. The New York State Bridge Authority announced October 20, that electronic gantries installed at the bridge will go live at midnight on the 1st, enabling drivers to pass through without stopping. The tollbooths, built in 2003, will be demolished shortly after the November 1 change takes place. Vehicles with E-ZPass tags will pay the toll as they drive under the gantry, which will read their tag and deduct the toll amount from their account. Drivers without E-ZPass will be billed by mail after their license plate is photographed by the gantry. All five bridges under the jurisdiction of the New York State Bridge Authority are shifting to cashless tolling. The change has already been made on the Newburgh-Beacon and Bear Mountain bridges. Two more bridges are slated for conversion — the Mid-Hudson and Kingston-Rhinecliff bridges — in the coming months, according to the Bridge Authority. All five bridges are expected to complete the transition to cashless tolling by March 2022. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.