Northern Virginia HOT Lanes

[1995hoo]

Adam Tuss of NBC-4 tweeted that there were two accidents in the new lanes overnight, but he didn't report on the cause or what happened (did someone go through the pylons, for example).

Meanwhile, the 10:38 traffic report on WTOP said there have been multiple instances of people backing up on the Beltway and reports of wrong-way drivers in the new lanes (the former doesn't surprise me; if the latter is true, why aren't there more media outlets reporting it)?

I won't be heading to Fairfax until the afternoon. Guess I will monitor the traffic reports. Wouldn't be using the new lanes anyway, the first exit is too far out of the way.

[mtantillo]

I can see how there could easily be wrong way drivers in these lanes.  I hope there aren't too many instances of that.  At the Route 7 entrance, the T-intersection is a NB exit ramp and SB entrance ramp.  Coming east on Route 7 and making the right-turn, it is a fairly sharp right turn onto the SB entrance, and the median nose on those ramps is pulled very far back (presumably to allow buses to make the sharp right), so if you don't take that turn sharp enough, you might end up driving south on the NB exit ramp without even realizing.  The Gallows, merrifield, and Braddock ramps all have similar designs. 

[mtantillo]

Just rode the new Express Lanes a few times.  Not many people using them, and many of the people I did see using them did not appear to have an E-ZPass mounted on their windshield.  Wondering how many days until people start getting bills for toll + $12 service charge and start complaining.  Another thing I just thought of regarding E-ZPass mounting.  If you have your tag properly mounted in the center of the windshield, you shouldn't have to worry about your tag being read in the left-most regular lane.  But I've seen some people mount their tag or hold their tag in their left hand on the left side of the vehicle.  Those people might have to worry...but I suppose if they complain, the HOT lane operators will just say that they didn't mount their tag properly so it is their own fault. 

I did drive around to all of the entrances and jotted down the toll rates.  The minimum toll for the entire length appears to be $1.65, and the toll remained $1.65 the whole time I was out there.  So all of these toll rates are presumably the minimums, and I assume that as more cars enter the lanes, they will proportionally increase.  The toll rates did appear to be "top heavy", similar to the NJ Turnpike which uses a higher per-mile rate north of Exit 9.  The 495 express lanes were charging 30 cents to go less than a mile between the north end and Jones Branch Road, and 45 cents to go from the north end to Westpark Drive, barely over a mile.  But only $1.65 to drive 14 miles end to end.  I bet they are charging higher tolls at the north end to alleviate concerns over congestion at the merge point between the north end the lanes and the American Legion Bridge.  In otherwords, the operators were right in that the lane configuration and toll rates are optimized more for Virginia commuters than for those going to/from Maryland. 

So here are what I believe to be the minimum toll rates....

Northern Terminus of lanes:
Jones Bridge: 30¢
I-66: 80¢
I-95/I-395: $1.65

Dulles Toll Road (access to SB only):
Westpark Drive: 30¢
I-66: 65¢
I-95/I-395: $1.50

Jones Bridge:
I-66: 50¢
I-95/I-395: $1.35
I-495 north: 30¢
Braddock: $1.15

Westpark Drive:
Jones Bridge: 25¢
Dulles Toll Road: 30¢
I-495 north: 45¢
I-66: 35¢
Braddock: $1.00
I-95/I-395: $1.20

Route 7 (access to SB only):
I-66: 25¢
Braddock: 85¢
I-95/I-395: $1.05

I-66 (no WB to NB or SB to EB access):
Gallows: 30¢
Braddock: 65¢
I-95/I-395: 85¢
Route 7: 25¢
Jones Bridge: 45¢
I-495 north: 75¢

Merrifield/Lee Highway (access to SB only):
Gallows: 25¢
Braddock: 50¢
I-95/I-395: 70¢

Gallows Road (access to NB only):
I-66: 35¢
Westpark Drive: 65¢
I-495 north: $1.10

Braddock Road (access to NB only):
I-66: 70¢
Westpark Drive: $1.00
I-495 north: $1.45

Southern Terminus of Lanes:
I-66: 90¢
Westpark Drive: $1.20
I-495 north: $1.65

[vdeane]

That or they're saying "local traffic, keep out".

[cpzilliacus]

But only $1.65 to drive 14 miles end to end.  I bet they are charging higher tolls at the north end to alleviate concerns over congestion at the merge point between the north end the lanes and the American Legion Bridge.  In otherwords, the operators were right in that the lane configuration and toll rates are optimized more for Virginia commuters than for those going to/from Maryland.

The fault  for that lies with the Montgomery County, Maryland County Council, which pretends that no residents of their county work in Northern Virginia (except in Arlington County near its Metro stops, which is allowed according to Montgomery County ideology) and none of its residents and visitors use Dulles Airport.

I think the congestion on the Inner Loop of I-495 from the Va. 267 (Dulles Toll Road) interchange through the express lane merge and across the American Legion Bridge at least as far as I-270Y is going to be epic, especially afternoons (weekdays and weekends), in large part because Dulles Airport is an afternoon peaking facility, and in spite of what some Montgomery County planners and their overseers at the Montgomery County Council want to believe, there are a lot of their residents that want and need to use Dulles.

Mark my words, there are going to be an assortment of "activists" blaming VDOT (!) for this state of affairs, and calling for I-495 from the Toll Road to I-270Y to be re-striped with narrower lanes to add one lane, presumably for a few transit buses only (a really bad idea, especially on the bridge itself), and another attempt at WMATA bus service from Tysons Corner to the Bethesda Metrorail station (like the last time, 2000 to 2002, a few buses won't ease congestion at all).

[Beltway]

I did drive around to all of the entrances and jotted down the toll rates.  The minimum toll for the entire length appears to be $1.65, and the toll remained $1.65 the whole time I was out there.  So all of these toll rates are presumably the minimums, and I assume that as more cars enter the lanes, they will proportionally increase.

This would be the weekend rate, as well.  It may be a lot higher during peak periods on weekdays.

[1995hoo]

We're in a standstill near the Robinson Terminal. No toll rates shown: Signs say "495 Express incident/Use general lanes."

Big wreck right at lanes' beginning. Express Lanes entry blocked.

[cpzilliacus]

We're in a standstill near the Robinson Terminal. No toll rates shown: Signs say "495 Express incident/Use general lanes."

Big wreck right at lanes' beginning. Express Lanes entry blocked.

That's cause for concern.  Wonder if people are having a hard time figuring out  how to use  these lanes?

[1995hoo]

We're in a standstill near the Robinson Terminal. No toll rates shown: Signs say "495 Express incident/Use general lanes."

Big wreck right at lanes' beginning. Express Lanes entry blocked.

That's cause for concern.  Wonder if people are having a hard time figuring out  how to use  these lanes?

Back home now.

I suspect that what is happening is that it's the typical DC-area driver being absolutely oblivious even though there are MULTIPLE nice clear signs saying the two left lanes become the Express Lanes, driving along in those, then reaching the split and saying, "Oh, SHIT, I didn't want to use this," then SLAMMING on the brakes and/or swerving madly to dive for the general-purpose lanes. When I posted earlier I was in the passenger seat of my wife's car and the Express Lanes entrance was blocked; a Porsche Cayenne SUV was up on the back of a tow truck.

After our stop in Fairfax we tried to go to Tysons but the traffic around the mall was so bad we gave up. Toll coming home was $1.05, so we took the Express Lanes. So my first experience turned out to be with my wife driving. I'll upload some videos and you'll see that she was generally fairly clueless about the configuration, and being married to me you'd think she'd know something more about it than the general public. But she can get rather snide about my being "obsessed" (her word) with roads and traffic and.....well, you'll hear her complaining from time to time.

Thing is, I think my wife is an erratic driver and so I was HAPPY to be in the Express Lanes if she's driving because it's less nerve-wracking. She didn't wear a seatbelt until 2004 and only started then after I got rear-ended and pointed out to her that the seatbelt saved me from broken ribs and such. She still doesn't signal most of the time and, as you'll see in the videos, she does not share my habit of religiously using the left lane solely for passing whenever possible. But on the other hand, she backseat drives as a passenger and it drives me crazy and she pooh-poohs it when I complain, so I sometimes try to do the same thing to her to try to get her to understand how annoying it is.

I'll edit this after I get the videos uploaded.

[cpzilliacus]

We're in a standstill near the Robinson Terminal. No toll rates shown: Signs say "495 Express incident/Use general lanes."

Big wreck right at lanes' beginning. Express Lanes entry blocked.

That's cause for concern.  Wonder if people are having a hard time figuring out  how to use  these lanes?

Back home now.

I suspect that what is happening is that it's the typical DC-area driver being absolutely oblivious even though there are MULTIPLE nice clear signs saying the two left lanes become the Express Lanes, driving along in those, then reaching the split and saying, "Oh, SHIT, I didn't want to use this," then SLAMMING on the brakes and/or swerving madly to dive for the general-purpose lanes.

That happens at several places in the  D.C. area. 

Perhaps the single-worst spot is the I-395 Express Lanes southbound, coming across the 14th Street Bridge coming out of the District of Columbia, at the so-called "Temp" ramp (it's been there since about 1988) in Arlington County near the Boundary Channel Drive underpass, where the southbound HOV-3 restrictions start in the afternoon peak commute period.  Drivers will also SLAM on the brakes and decide at the very last minute (or even back up (!)) to get out of the HOV lanes and into the general-purpose lanes there. 

Another favorite spot for this type of clueless driving (and stopping) is the Outer Loop of the Beltway in Prince George's County in College Park, where I-95 North exits off of the Beltway on the right, and people do not notice in spite of the massive signage that SHA has long had in place there. 

A more-recent (as in newer) location for this is I-370 eastbound in Montgomery County, approaching the last "free" exit (at "secret" Md. 200A for Shady Grove Road and the Shady Grove Metro station, where 370 ends and tolled Md. 200 begins).

You can probably name a few other places where this sort of thing happens frequently.

In my perfect world, anyone that pulls a stunt like that would be charged with reckless driving by law enforcement (Maryland has a "Reckless and negligent driving" section in the Transportation Article (§ 21-901.1), but it is apparently not used as the basis for charging a driver nearly as much as it is in Virginia).

When I posted earlier I was in the passenger seat of my wife's car and the Express Lanes entrance was blocked; a Porsche Cayenne SUV was up on the back of a tow truck.

That is going to be expensive to fix!

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: Two teens hurt in crash on Beltway express lanes

Two teenagers were injured in a crash Saturday on the Capital Beltway's new 495 Express Lanes – one of two collisions on the newly opened roadway.

Neither teens' injuries were expected to be life threatening, said Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police. In the other crash, she said, no one was hurt.

The crash involving the teens occurred just before 7 a.m.near Braddock Road, where the general lanes of 495 now split off into the express lanes, Geller said. She said a 19-year-old woman headed north swerved right at the split, then overcorrected to the left – sending her vehicle across the general lanes and over the white divider posts that separate them from the express lanes. The vehicle, she said, eventually crashed into a jersey wall.

[1995hoo]

Following up on my earlier post.....since cpzilliacus has responded, I'll put in a new post rather than editing.

I guess the benefit of being the passenger is that it gave me a lot more flexibility to take pictures and video.

First advance sign on the Inner Loop for the new ramps to the Shirley Highway HOV. Didn't see anybody using those ramps. I may test them out on Monday during non—rush hour since I can use the Franconia—Springfield Parkway for easy access, then take the Beltway Express Lanes to Maryland.




Not sure if you can see this.....just after the sign shown above there's a trailblazer on the right for the Express Lanes. I had noted a covered-up sign for several months and it was obviously an Interstate shield from its shape, so now I know what it is.




Another advance sign for the HOV ramps.




Going up the hill on the Inner Loop out of Springfield. I knew what these signs looked like but I find it interesting to see them uncovered at last.




Advance LGS for the Express Lanes. My wife initially told me I was wrong when I told her she had to move right because the lane we were in becomes one of the Express Lanes. She thought that only applied to the lane on the other side of the double white lines. She should know better than to argue with me about where lanes go. (More on that later).




Passing the Robinson Terminal, you start to see the overheads.....no toll rates shown for the reasons I mentioned in my prior posts.




This video taken just after the previous photo shows how they use the VMS to give notices other than toll rates. (Click to play; it's a link to the video–everything from here to the end consists of videos where the image here is a link)




Now we're on the way home from Tysons. First video starts on eastbound Route 7. I was going to have her use the Westpark Drive entrance, but the mall traffic was so messed up I decided Route 7 made more sense.....and, as you can tell from her voice, the traffic had already pissed her off big-time and so she took it out on me and I responded in kind!




Passing through the I-66 interchange. My wife thinks the van behind her can't use the lanes right as I stop the video. I replied that two-axle vehicles are allowed and that it's the big trucks that are banned. A van is not a truck.




She then got pissed at the van driver for tailgating her and I pissed her off even more by taking his side. She shouldn't have been in the left lane after she went past the Prius. This video is just after we passed US-29 (Lee Highway).




Southern end of the Express Lanes. As the video ends my wife asks what "Divided Lanes End" means. I had hit "stop" right as she asked the question. I thought the sign's meaning is obvious because the pylons end there, but I replied patiently that it's the end of the Express Lanes.





Now for the real fun when we both start yelling at each other. You might recall that in the "Virginia" thread, and probably in this one previously, I had wondered why a single lane continues through the Springfield Interchange past the HOV ramps, then curves left and rejoins the Beltway to the left of the I-95 flyover. Well, I directed my wife to use that lane, in part because some guy was hanging next to her and making it hard to get over.

This was not the best thing to tell her to do. "Stay in this lane" evidently isn't as clear an instruction as I think it is. This goes to my point earlier: Don't argue with me about the lane, just go where I said to go! I know where it will come out! She scared the crap out of me when she slammed on the brakes.





Edited to add: The Washington Post piece cpzilliacus linked more or less confirms my theory about the accidents!

[mtantillo]

1995hoo hits the nail right on the head.  All accidents happened because drivers swerved at the beginning of the south end of the lanes.  Read the effin signs people!! 

Also, I correct my previous post with toll rates. They are not necessarily proportional.  In the morning, at route 7, Braddock was 90a cents, south end $1.10.  But when the accident that 1995hooI described happened, there was likely traffic at the south end of the lanes.  At route 7, it was still 90a cents to Braddock, but $1.75 to the south end. 

[1995hoo]

Just rode the new Express Lanes a few times.  Not many people using them, and many of the people I did see using them did not appear to have an E-ZPass mounted on their windshield.  Wondering how many days until people start getting bills for toll + $12 service charge and start complaining.  ....

The other thing I want to see is how many of the HOV crowd get busted for not having Flex devices. I've seen an awful lot of "outraged" comments from carpoolers who contend they should not be required to have a transponder and that because it's a ridiculous requirement they are not going to abide by it and will simply put their E-ZPasses in the no-read bags.

To which I say, good luck with that! I find the "outrage" especially amusing because it's been known for at least five years that the HOV-rides-free provision would be handled via switchable transponders. Plus, compare it to Miami, where as you know you have to register your carpool and you can't register an out-of-state plate. Virginia's system is far friendlier to the customer. I'm not getting a Flex. But suppose I had one and suppose our relatives from Miami or Fort Myers came to visit with their kids. Can't fit six or seven people in our cars (especially not the two-seater), but with the E-ZPass Flex I could just take the transponder with us and ride in their minivan. The Miami system doesn't allow that.


PS. BTW, Mike, I am chuffed to see that I am not the only person in this country who remembers the cent sign and knows how to type one!

[mtantillo]

Just rode the new Express Lanes a few times.  Not many people using them, and many of the people I did see using them did not appear to have an E-ZPass mounted on their windshield.  Wondering how many days until people start getting bills for toll + $12 service charge and start complaining.  ....

The other thing I want to see is how many of the HOV crowd get busted for not having Flex devices. I've seen an awful lot of "outraged" comments from carpoolers who contend they should not be required to have a transponder and that because it's a ridiculous requirement they are not going to abide by it and will simply put their E-ZPasses in the no-read bags.

To which I say, good luck with that! I find the "outrage" especially amusing because it's been known for at least five years that the HOV-rides-free provision would be handled via switchable transponders. Plus, compare it to Miami, where as you know you have to register your carpool and you can't register an out-of-state plate. Virginia's system is far friendlier to the customer. I'm not getting a Flex. But suppose I had one and suppose our relatives from Miami or Fort Myers came to visit with their kids. Can't fit six or seven people in our cars (especially not the two-seater), but with the E-ZPass Flex I could just take the transponder with us and ride in their minivan. The Miami system doesn't allow that.


PS. BTW, Mike, I am chuffed to see that I am not the only person in this country who remembers the cent sign and knows how to type one!

Amazing how many people think the Flex transponder is just a regular transponder with an on/off switch.  And yes, much more user-friendly to accept regular E-ZPass and to have a switchable E-ZPass for carpoolers that they can change on the spot.  You bring up a good point about Florida making you register (and I think I may have been the one who shared a story of a colleague of mine who snow-birds in Florida but keeps his WV license plates being denied free passage on the 95 Express lanes in Miami when he tried to register).  Georgia is in between.  You can choose to register your PeachPass sticker as either "toll" or "HOV", but you can toggle from one to the other using the PeachPass app on your phone (hopefully not while you're driving) or on the PeachPass website.  You can even set it so that it works toll on weekends/HOV on weekdays, or set a normal toll mode tag to HOV mode temporarily for 4 hours, 1 day, or 1 week. 

I just heard on WTOP that if you go online to the 495 Express Lanes site and go to the "missed a toll" section, you can input your license plate number and pay the toll there, plus a $1.50 service fee.  This is much better than the $12.50 service fee if they have to track you down and send an invoice.  So if you don't have E-ZPass, you can still use the lanes for a reasonable price as long as you come forward to pay up before they come to you. 

And I had to use the character map to get the cent sign, and I just left it on my clipboard while I typed that post

[hbelkins]

I'm interested to know if a regular E-ZPass user (with an out-of-state E-ZPass tag) can use the new lanes, with one person in the vehicle.

I'm planning on going to the Doylestown, Pa. meet in December. On the way back I plan to clinch I-83 from Harrisburg down to Baltimore, and I want to drive the new WV 9 routing from the state line to Charles Town (or maybe even on to Martinsburg) so I figure the best way to get from Baltimore to VA 9 is I-95 to the Beltway's Outer Loop to VA 267 to VA 7 to VA 9. This might give me a chance to check out a small portion of the new lanes, and it would be on a Sunday afternoon.

[NE2]

https://www.495expresslanes.com/using-ezpass
"All drivers need an E-ZPass to use the 495 Express Lanes.  If you have an E-ZPass in your car already, you can use the 495 Express Lanes when they open."

[hbelkins]

https://www.495expresslanes.com/using-ezpass
"All drivers need an E-ZPass to use the 495 Express Lanes.  If you have an E-ZPass in your car already, you can use the 495 Express Lanes when they open."

So I will be charged differently than a driver using a Flex device?

[NE2]

https://www.495expresslanes.com/using-ezpass
"All drivers need an E-ZPass to use the 495 Express Lanes.  If you have an E-ZPass in your car already, you can use the 495 Express Lanes when they open."

So I will be charged differently than a driver using a Flex device?

As far as I can tell, no, unless that Flex user is carpooling (and thus using the lanes for free). They don't outright say that non-Maryland/Virginia EZPass owners pay the same toll, but they say nothing about a different toll either. https://www.495expresslanes.com/faqs

[1995hoo]

https://www.495expresslanes.com/using-ezpass
"All drivers need an E-ZPass to use the 495 Express Lanes.  If you have an E-ZPass in your car already, you can use the 495 Express Lanes when they open."

So I will be charged differently than a driver using a Flex device?

Depends. You'd pay whatever the rate is when you enter the lanes, regardless of how many people are in your car. Whether you pay more than the Flex user depends on how many people he has. If he's an SOV or an HOV-2, he pays the same rate you do. If he's an HOV-3+, he flips the switch to "HOV on" and pays no toll.

BTW, the same applies to those of us who live here but don't get a Flex. I'm in that group. I pay nothing for either of our current transponders. The Flex would cost us $1.00 a month per transponder, but we have three or more people in the car MAYBE three to five times a year (and several of those are usually in Florida). So it makes no sense for us to get the Flex. If we ever have three people and want to use the Express Lanes, we will simply pay the toll.

....
 
PS. BTW, Mike, I am chuffed to see that I am not the only person in this country who remembers the cent sign and knows how to type one!

....

And I had to use the character map to get the cent sign, and I just left it on my clipboard while I typed that post

Well, crap. I hold down Alt and type 0162 on the 10-key. Way to bust my bubble, man! (I'm typing this on my phone, however, and as far as I know I can't do the cent sign on here.)

BTW, regarding turning yourself in for a violation, I saw that on their website today, but other than the WTOP report I have not heard it publicized anywhere else and I doubt the average driver knows you can do that. Of course, it's not in Fluor/Transurban's interest to publicize it!

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio: Rocky start for 495 Express Lanes

The new 495 Express Lanes in Virginia opened to a rocky start Saturday with multiple accidents and reports of drivers backing up along the entry ramps to avoid the tolls.

The express lanes' operator Transurban urged drivers to be alert and to pay close attention to highway signs when they are on the Capital Beltway.

The lanes officially opened to the public at 2 a.m. Saturday after several years of construction. The 14-mile express lane section runs from the Springfield Interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road. The express lanes - two northbound and two southbound - supplement the existing eight lanes in that area.

[Stephane Dumas]

Google maps didn't made the changes yet to mention the HOT lanes but Bing maps and Mapquest did
http://binged.it/XoU1Gs http://mapq.st/SEZRfg  Strange then Mapquest didn't used the green color for the HOT lanes as they did for VA-267/Dulles Airport access Road.

And kudos for the pictures 1995hoo did you taken one or 2 of the HOT ramps to US-29?

[1995hoo]

Bing Maps has actually shown the new lanes for several months (but not all the ramps).

We didn't take any of the Express Lane ramps to/from US-29. On our way out we were headed to my parents' house in Fairfax to drop off a bunch of clothes–we have about a dozen relatives who live in the Breezy Point neighborhood in New York where the big fire was during the hurricane and my mom's been collecting stuff to donate. Since they live off Route 236, taking the Express Lanes on the way there makes no sense because the first exit (Route 29) is too far out of the way. Once we were there we decided to go to Tysons and my wife decided she wanted to go through the streets instead of on the Beltway (which then prompted her to complain about all the interminable red lights). We took the Express Lanes only on the way home, entering from VA-7 and following them to their southern end and then taking that very peculiar single lane to the left through the Springfield Interchange (the one whose purpose I do not understand).

[Interstatefan78]

https://www.495expresslanes.com/using-ezpass
"All drivers need an E-ZPass to use the 495 Express Lanes.  If you have an E-ZPass in your car already, you can use the 495 Express Lanes when they open."

So I will be charged differently than a driver using a Flex device?

Depends. You'd pay whatever the rate is when you enter the lanes, regardless of how many people are in your car. Whether you pay more than the Flex user depends on how many people he has. If he's an SOV or an HOV-2, he pays the same rate you do. If he's an HOV-3+, he flips the switch to "HOV on" and pays no toll.

BTW, the same applies to those of us who live here but don't get a Flex. I'm in that group. I pay nothing for either of our current transponders. The Flex would cost us $1.00 a month per transponder, but we have three or more people in the car MAYBE three to five times a year (and several of those are usually in Florida). So it makes no sense for us to get the Flex. If we ever have three people and want to use the Express Lanes, we will simply pay the toll.

....
 
PS. BTW, Mike, I am chuffed to see that I am not the only person in this country who remembers the cent sign and knows how to type one!

....

And I had to use the character map to get the cent sign, and I just left it on my clipboard while I typed that post

Well, crap. I hold down Alt and type 0162 on the 10-key. Way to bust my bubble, man! (I'm typing this on my phone, however, and as far as I know I can't do the cent sign on here.)

BTW, regarding turning yourself in for a violation, I saw that on their website today, but other than the WTOP report I have not heard it publicized anywhere else and I doubt the average driver knows you can do that. Of course, it's not in Fluor/Transurban's interest to publicize it!

Great idea but what about E-Z Pass New Jersey users can't they just walk up to a E-Z Pass Virginia costumer service representative and trade the original E-Z Pass tag for the flex tag so that they don't have to pay the toll if they are carpooling on the Capitol Beltway HOT lanes

[1995hoo]

Great idea but what about E-Z Pass New Jersey users can't they just walk up to a E-Z Pass Virginia costumer service representative and trade the original E-Z Pass tag for the flex tag so that they don't have to pay the toll if they are carpooling on the Capitol Beltway HOT lanes

No, of course not. The E-ZPass New Jersey tag belongs to the New Jersey customer service center and would have to be returned to them. It can't be traded in for a Virginia device. If someone with a New Jersey transponder wants to get a Flex transponder from Virginia, the best thing to do would be to set up the Virginia account and obtain the Flex device and THEN cancel the New Jersey account (and send the transponder back, preferably wrapped in foil) once the Virginia one is operative. That's what I did when Virginia finally joined the E-ZPass system. I had an old Smart Tag from Virginia (which I kept) and an E-ZPass from New Jersey. New Jersey charged a fee, Virginia didn't. So I got a second transponder from Virginia (for the second car) and after it came I cancelled the New Jersey account. That way I didn't have a stretch of time with just the one device.