The busiest travel weekend of the year is upon us and there will be no tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It's not some good will gesture on the part of the state, it's due to a strike called by toll collectors.

Talks between the toll collectors union and state officials broke down Tuesday night and at 4:00 AM Wednesday morning, the union called for a strike. There will be no tolls collected today but tomorrow, the state says it will use non-union toll collectors. The state expects a loss of between $1.7 million and $2 million dollars from just one day of uncollected tolls.

There were no traffic jams as a result of the change in toll collections. In fact, traffic seemed to be moving better because people didn't have to stop and pay the tolls.

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Trunpike Commission said, 'By and large, the public is getting used to the idea that, 'Hey, the turnpike is free today.' Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I think it's safe to say that things are going to maintain a smooth traffic flow today.'

This is the first strike in the 64 year history of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The contract between the union and the state expired September 30, 2003. No new negotiations were scheduled for Wednesday at this time.