State Toll Roads and Turnpikes

[webny99]

Have you ever had a bad experience on a tolled facility?

Which ones do you feel are well maintained, and which ones are overpriced for the experience?

I think the PA Turnpike in general is nothing to write home about. The Thruway and the Ohio Turnpike both have better rates and are nicer roads in general, as far as I'm concerned.

[renegade]

Yeah, the Ohio Turnpike is great ... if you like forty-mile-long construction zones where you are limited to 45 miles-per-hour. 

[Techknow]

Last November me and a few of my friends had to figure out how to get from Aurora, CO to Boulder, CO after getting our rental car. The person navigating forgot to acknowledge that the route we would go through are toll roads, specifically E-470 and the Northwest Parkway. So we racked up maybe $15 of tolls and learned about how E-470 is among the most expensive toll roads in the Western US. I guess the one redeeming quality of it is that you can go 75 MPH on both toll roads so we avoided rush hour traffic.

Yes I am very familiar with toll roads, the SF Bay Area has nine toll bridges but only in one direction for all of them. But E-470? SMH

[PurdueBill]

Too-low work zone speed limits (for long stretches of no work happening) are indeed a problem on the Ohio Turnpike.  20 years ago, a lot of it with the heavy work widening was in rough shape, slow, and not worth it. 

The older Indiana Toll Road rest areas generally are not in great shape and the solution to the easternmost one (getting rid of it instead of replacing it promptly) is cheap too.  The price per mile was good with E-ZPass compared to cash, but now that it's possible for some trips to cost more with E-ZPass than with cash and the pavement is still ratty and it's nearly all two lanes each way, that road is frustrating as well.

Last November me and a few of my friends had to figure out how to get from Aurora, CO to Boulder, CO after getting our rental car. The person navigating forgot to acknowledge that the route we would go through are toll roads, specifically E-470 and the Northwest Parkway. So we racked up maybe $15 of tolls and learned about how E-470 is among the most expensive toll roads in the Western US. I guess the one redeeming quality of it is that you can go 75 MPH on both toll roads so we avoided rush hour traffic.

Yes I am very familiar with toll roads, the SF Bay Area has nine toll bridges but only in one direction for all of them. But E-470? SMH

I attended a conference in Greeley a couple years ago where the organizers were very careful to warn attendees renting cars at DEN about the E-470 tolls and the way that the rental agency will ding you for fees every day of your rental (even when the car is only up in Greeley).  I refused to use E-470 as a matter of principle even if it did take longer to avoid.  It is insanely priced.

[webny99]

Yeah, the Ohio Turnpike is great ... if you like forty-mile-long construction zones where you are limited to 45 miles-per-hour.

I tend not to factor construction zones into my judgement. They are what they are (annoying, painful, etc.) but it doesn't make it a bad road overall. Theoretically, it'll be even better, someday



On another note, you haven't seen a high toll until you've received a bill from using the 407 up in Ontario.
That road will never run out of capacity, but they'll never run out of money to maintain it, either 

[hbelkins]

Had a couple of read failures on my E-ZPass in Pennsylvania, but that's really the only bad experience I've had.

Worse pavement quality I've seen on a toll road is Indiana.

And can we talk about Breezewood? Can we? Can we? 

[Max Rockatansky]

Yeah, the Ohio Turnpike is great ... if you like forty-mile-long construction zones where you are limited to 45 miles-per-hour.

Ran into one of those last summer, there was plenty of highway patrol in place ready to enforce some speeding violations to boot.  Florida seems to be the fairest state in the country with toll rates, the roads are usually in good shape to boot.

[Hurricane Rex]

Haven't had much but its sucks I have to pay to continue a PCT hike from Oregon into Washington if that counts (Bridge of the Gods).

[jas]

The NJ Turnpike north of exit 9 is always a bad experience.  The PA TPK west of King of Prussia/Valley Forge (Exit 327) is almost always a wonderful experience.

[RobbieL2415]

The Chesapeake Expressway is always a nice and quick drive.

On the other hand, DE 1 is always a zoo between Wilmington and Dover.

[jeffandnicole]

Back during my days working on the NJ Turnpike, we would have multi-mile backups approaching Exit 1, not to mention the upwards-of-25 mile delays between Exits 6 & 9. Occasionally someone will complain that their ride should be free because of the congestion. I would offer that they should be paying more since they spent more time on the Turnpike! They weren't too thrilled with my suggestion.

[Buck87]

My worst turnpike experience was eating at a PA turnpike travel plaza during the lunchtime rush. The place was swamped and the service was slow, resulting in frustratingly long lines at all the food options. I ended up being there at least 30 minutes longer than expected. I was on a fairly tight schedule on that trip, and had planned to get off the Turnpike briefly for the sole purpose of seeing the Breezewood configuration in person, but losing that half hour at the travel plaza caused me to scrap that idea and stay on the Turnpike.

[Beltway]

The PA TPK west of King of Prussia/Valley Forge (Exit 327) is almost always a wonderful experience.

What is 'wonderful' about it?

[LM117]

Yeah, the Ohio Turnpike is great ... if you like forty-mile-long construction zones where you are limited to 45 miles-per-hour.

That road is always under construction. It also doesn't help when cops decide to troll traffic by performing rolling road blocks.

[Buck87]

Yeah, the Ohio Turnpike is great ... if you like forty-mile-long construction zones where you are limited to 45 miles-per-hour.

That road is always under construction. It also doesn't help when cops decide to troll traffic by performing rolling road blocks.

Interesting, when/where did you see that happen?

And yes, the long construction zones on the Ohio Turnpike are annoying, especially when you're on a short trip. I mostly shunpike when going to Cleveland or Toledo (which US 20/OH 10/I-480, OH 2/I-90 and US 20/I-280 make easy to do), but will jump on the Turnpike every now and then if I'm either in a rush, want to do something different, or am heading out of state.

[Roadgeekteen]

When my family was returning from a trip once, one lane of the mass pike was closed for miles! 

[webny99]

When my family was returning from a trip once, one lane of the mass pike was closed for miles! 

One of two, or one of three? One of three is workable; one of two, not so much.

In recent years the thruway has been doing almost all their construction and pave jobs at night. Smart move - daytime traffic in the summer is bad enough as it is.

[Roadgeekteen]

When my family was returning from a trip once, one lane of the mass pike was closed for miles! 

One of two, or one of three? One of three is workable; one of two, not so much.

In recent years the thruway has been doing almost all their construction and pave jobs at night. Smart move - daytime traffic in the summer is bad enough as it is.

I don't remember. I think it was one of three. We were traveling at 11 pm.

[Brandon]

Only really bad experience on state tollways is the traffic jams caused by idiot Chicago drivers.  Otherwise, they're usually pretty good.  Here's a rating of my own (YMMV, and only systems I've been on):

1. Illinois Tollway system - Pretty good, sets the standard in many ways.
2. Ohio Turnpike - Pretty good, great service areas, needs ORT lanes.
3. New York Thruway - Not too bad, needs distance-based exit numbering & ORT lanes.  Service areas were overpriced compared to IL.
4. Florida's Turnpike - Last time was 1990, but it seemed pretty decent then.
5. New Jersey Turnpike - ORT lanes were nice, the service area wasn't bad either, but felt like a downgraded version of an Illinois Tollway.
6. Kansas Turnpike - Needs acceptance of EZ Pass.  The service areas were a bit weird with a standard McDonalds & gas station, unlike NY, IL, PA, OH, & IN, but like OK.
7. Pennsylvania Turnpike - Overpriced.  The service areas are nice, but like the NYTSA, overpriced.  Narrow and dated.
8. Chicago Skyway - Way the fuck overpriced for the region.  Needs ORT lanes.
9. Indiana Toll Road - Needs a major upgrade - pavement, service areas (being addressed), ORT lanes.
10. Oklahoma Turnpikes - Probably the worst ones I've been on.  Look & feel cheap, needs to accept EZ Pass.

[J N Winkler]

I have two toll transponders--an I-Pass (for access to E-ZPass facilities) and a K-Tag (for access to toll roads in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas).  I have had odd experiences with both.  With the I-Pass I once got a yellow light instead of the expected blue light when I rolled through an exit toll lane at 40 (speed limit 15):  a later audit showed the toll had been charged normally (not as a video toll, as I would have expected from a blown read).  My KTA transaction history also shows a toll for Haysville/Derby to the Southern Terminal when the GPS log corresponding to this trip shows entry at South Wichita (in other words, KTA gave me three miles for free on that trip).

[SSOWorld]

Only really bad experience on state tollways is the traffic jams caused by idiot Chicago drivers.  Otherwise, they're usually pretty good.  Here's a rating of my own (YMMV, and only systems I've been on):

1. Illinois Tollway system - Pretty good, sets the standard in many ways.
2. Ohio Turnpike - Pretty good, great service areas, needs ORT lanes.
3. New York Thruway - Not too bad, needs distance-based exit numbering & ORT lanes.  Service areas were overpriced compared to IL.
4. Florida's Turnpike - Last time was 1990, but it seemed pretty decent then.
5. New Jersey Turnpike - ORT lanes were nice, the service area wasn't bad either, but felt like a downgraded version of an Illinois Tollway.
6. Kansas Turnpike - Needs acceptance of EZ Pass.  The service areas were a bit weird with a standard McDonalds & gas station, unlike NY, IL, PA, OH, & IN, but like OK.
7. Pennsylvania Turnpike - Overpriced.  The service areas are nice, but like the NYTSA, overpriced.  Narrow and dated.
8. Chicago Skyway - Way the fuck overpriced for the region.  Needs ORT lanes.
9. Indiana Toll Road - Needs a major upgrade - pavement, service areas (being addressed), ORT lanes.
10. Oklahoma Turnpikes - Probably the worst ones I've been on.  Look & feel cheap, needs to accept EZ Pass.

Sad part is the the tech of E-ZPass will not mesh with the K-Tag/PikePass/TxTag system (these 3 have started code-sharing (for a lack of a better word) on each others systems).  Same is true for the Florida and Georgia tags, California's FasTRAK, and others.  The days of a universal electronic toll collection system are very distant.

The roads in the E-ZPass system can easily install ORT that mimics Illinois to give option for cash by exiting the highway. However some require the pass and will do a pay-by-plate.  This seems to be the way to go now since a good majority of drivers have the pass.

I was appalled by the self-service kiosk on the Kansas Turnpike (near Wichita)  The KS/OK/TX system is also not friendly to out-of-state travelers who want to get one - and I am concerned about not being able to un-mount the tag as it would likely interfere with my I-PASS.

[J N Winkler]

Sad part is the the tech of E-ZPass will not mesh with the K-Tag/PikePass/TxTag system (these 3 have started code-sharing (for a lack of a better word) on each others systems).  Same is true for the Florida and Georgia tags, California's FasTRAK, and others.  The days of a universal electronic toll collection system are very distant.

AIUI, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma all use basically the same passive transponder.  This is better technology than the active transponders the E-ZPass agencies use because there are no batteries to wear out.  However, E-ZPass agencies collectively represent about 80% of toll collections in the US, so they have little incentive to change their transponder and reader standards to mesh with other interoperability zones.

The current trend toward nationwide interoperability seems to be a combination of dual-mode readers and using license plate reads to fake interoperability.

I was appalled by the self-service kiosk on the Kansas Turnpike (near Wichita)  The KS/OK/TX system is also not friendly to out-of-state travelers who want to get one - and I am concerned about not being able to un-mount the tag as it would likely interfere with my I-PASS.

Kansas does not have as sophisticated an operation for distributing transponders as, e.g., Florida, where both the sticker and hardshell transponders can be bought from vending machines.  The sticker K-Tag is free but the hardshell K-Tag costs.

I have a sticker K-Tag and an I-Pass that I have never removed from the windshield since I installed it, and I have had no problems with blown reads on E-ZPass facilities.  The false K-Tag read I mentioned above occurred before I got my I-Pass and when I was still trying to use the sticker to fake a hardshell transponder by holding it to the windshield (this works some of the time, but read reliability goes down, since the transponder relies on the windshield itself as an antenna).

The toll agencies and the electronic toll technology vendors figured out long ago that readers that reject good reads when the vehicle has multiple transponders are a complete nonstarter for the trucking industry and for the intercity bus companies.  Blown reads from a healthy transponder that is one of several on the same windshield are already far less of a problem than double billing when two transponders on the same windshield suddenly become interoperable with each other, or being billed for someone else's travel when the car is sold with a sticker transponder still in place.

[LM117]

Yeah, the Ohio Turnpike is great ... if you like forty-mile-long construction zones where you are limited to 45 miles-per-hour.

That road is always under construction. It also doesn't help when cops decide to troll traffic by performing rolling road blocks.

Interesting, when/where did you see that happen?

And yes, the long construction zones on the Ohio Turnpike are annoying, especially when you're on a short trip. I mostly shunpike when going to Cleveland or Toledo (which US 20/OH 10/I-480, OH 2/I-90 and US 20/I-280 make easy to do), but will jump on the Turnpike every now and then if I'm either in a rush, want to do something different, or am heading out of state.

I don't remember the exact spots, but it happened when I last drove it in June 2013. I drove it between I-77 and I-280 when I went to Michigan. I also drove that stretch in 2011. One of the cops would cruise in the center lane doing 65-70mph for about 20 miles (give or take a few). Meanwhile, lined up behind him would be traffic as far as you can see and you could tell people were getting pissed. Once he finally turned off, everybody took off like they seen a green flag at a NASCAR race. It happened more than once.

There were also cops on the shoulders pointing radar guns at traffic. Given how heavily the Ohio Turnpike was patrolled, I would've thought that I was in Virginia if I hadn't known any better.

[hotdogPi]

Florida and Georgia can easily become interoperable with E-ZPass with no significant changes – North Carolina already does it.

[Brandon]

There were also cops on the shoulders pointing radar guns at traffic. Given how heavily the Ohio Turnpike was patrolled, I would've thought that I was in Virginia if I hadn't known any better.

Yeah, that's Ohio.  They also have a nasty habit of picking out Michigan plates intentionally to to pull over.  The Toledo War is not dead yet.