In Delaware: Traffic Takes Its Toll

"Hi, how are ya? Sixty cents out of a ten. Here's your change."

From his 3-ft. by 6-ft., glass-walled, air-conditioned booth on the Washington-New York highway, Toll Collector William Piergalline has a smashing view of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, whose twin, gray-green spans arc gracefully over the Delaware River. But Piergalline, 54, a squat, salty, seven-year veteran of the Delaware River and Bay Authority, rarely notices his surroundings. Like the other toll collectors who, along with six automatic coin receptacles, handle the 16 lanes of the bridge's two Delaware-side toll plazas, he is much too...