https://www.wdel.com/news/cash-collection-temporarily-suspended-at-newark-toll-plaza/article_faf6317e-ffcb-11eb-b225-2b7c6a0ebb6e.html
Might as well switch towards AET while we are at it... 
If months of Covid didn't end collections, I don't think a small sewage leak will change their minds at this time either.
Maybe they would if the mainline plazas on both I-95 & DE 1 didn't already have express lanes, but yes DelDOT does seem content with their current tolling setup.
(In a perfect world, a 3rd lane would be added to the express lanes thru the Newark Plaza...the past couple times I've been thru there, I've noticed that most of the traffic squeezes into the 2 E-ZPass lanes while very little traffic takes the outer 2 lanes that feed into the toll booths. But given that the entire plaza was just reconstructed about a decade ago and that widening the express lanes would likely require some substantial reconstruction, I can't imagine it'll happen anytime soon - DelDOT going fully AET and simply removing the booths at some point in the future is probably the more likely outcome.)
If anything, the Delaware Memorial Bridge toll is the most likely candidate for AET reconstruction anytime in the near future. Every other booth in the state flows perfectly fine.
That plaza flows perfectly fine also. It's the squeezing onto I-95 that kills it.
That's true, I meant to point out more that every other booth had free-flowing options. Worded that poorly. Between the age of the booths and the lack of any sort of express lanes I'd expect it to get a significant rebuild before any other facility in the state, though it definitely shouldn't be a priority project for the DRBA.
What I don't like is how the lanes are striped after you go thru the plaza.
Here's an overhead view...
https://goo.gl/maps/dLKfsG8RYMADA1ys8 . You'll need to move it around to see everything, and even then a still picture just doesn't justify the issue because you're seeing it as a still picture, not as you're speeding up to 50 or 60 mph with other traffic right beside you.
Looking at the lanes from left to right (or in the case of the link I provided, from bottom to top), there are 13 toll lanes. By the time you get to Route 9:
Lanes 1 - 5 Merge into 1 lane. (Lanes 1 - 4 are typically EZ Pass only lanes).
Lane 6 continues as a single lane.
Lane 7 continues as a single lane.
Lane 8 continues as a single lane.
Lanes 9 - 13 merge into the C/D exit lane for DE 9. (Lanes 10 & 11 are typically EZ Pass only lanes)
As a result, there's an unnecessary amount of merging of traffic into a single lane for the 5 left toll lanes. The 2 middle lanes have their own, unimpeded lane leaving the toll plaza, and the 5 right toll lanes merge into a single lane that's marked for an exit, forcing most of them to merge over again. While DE 9 is a relatively lightly used exit just after the plaza, there's no signage prior to the plaza indicating that motorists should try to keep to the right at the plaza.
When normal, everyday traffic goes thru the plaza, it works well. When motorists not familiar with the traffic patterns use the plaza (especially weekend/holiday traffic), there's a lot more weaving after the plaza than should be necessary.
Author
Topic: Delaware (Read 591896 times)