Since it's DelDOT's intent to charge through-traffic southbounders more for staying on US 301 vs. leaving at Exit 2; the two gantries, one along the exit ramp, the other being the through-traffic one along the mainline would be the only way to accomplish such without adding additional gantries. As stated several & multiple posts back, my reasoning for moving the mainline AET gantries within/inside Exit 2 is so that traffic to/from that interchange south to MD via US 301 is not subject to paying a ridiculously high $4/$5.60 toll to ride just over 2 miles.
I don't see why traffic traveling on to the state line should be charged an additional toll at all. As I mentioned earlier, that's not how the Thruway does it, and IMO the Thruway has it right.
Val, I agree with you in principle; but one needs to keep in mind
*devil's advocate mode - on* that DE never had a toll road that operated with the traditional closed-ticket system like much of the NY Thruway as well as the MA (pre-AET conversion), PA (most of it), NJ & OH Turnpikes.
When the Delaware Turnpike (I-95) first opened, the tollbooths in Newark weren't the only ones in the system. Southbounders that exited off earlier paid a lower toll at the ramps. Northbounders that entered onto I-95 beyond the mainline toll plaza had to pay at separate but lower toll at the booths upon entering. As mentioned before in other threads, the original plan was that once the bonds that built the road were paid off;
all of the tollbooths were to be taken down and the Delaware Turnpike was to become a free-interstate. The removal of the I-95 ramp tolls was the first phase of such a phase-out/conversion but the final phase (the removal of the mainline tolls), sadly IMHO, never happened. And this was back when the tolls were much lower & reasonable.
Long story short, DE placed the AET gantries and set the tolls rates for US 301 in the same manner that it did for the Delaware Turnpike (I-95) in the 1960s; the only differences being the AET collection mode (such didn't exist when I-95 was first built), the elimination of the old/free state-line crossing (that's my biggest bone of contention) & the toll rates (I still believe that $4 mainline rate is too high).
*devil's advocate mode - off*In any case, if traveling down a ramp is all it takes to save some money, many people would do it. Exit 2 is a diamond interchange, so unless one prohibited straight-through movements, there would be practically no downside to shunkpiking.
As mentioned earlier, a couple of the direct-shunpike component routes south of Exit 2 have had long-standing through-truck prohibitions on them. I don't see such changing anytime soon. For cars traveling south on US 301 but exiting prior to the mainline AET gantry; one still pays a toll, though much lower, upon exiting. Such action isn't a full shunpike per se, just a cost savings.
I really, really do not like how Delaware likes to charge predominantly out of state traffic. Such schemes should be illegal.
For existing free Interstate highways; such practice is. The I-95 one exists largely because it was
grandfathered in and wasn't originally the only tollbooth for the Delaware Turnpike. I would even bet that had the mainline AET gantry at US 301 been the only gantry proposed; DelDOT would've gotten some flack for from the feds for it even if the highway's not an Interstate.
I thought it was $3 at the state line and an additional $1 after passing another gantry further down the road?
See Ipeters61's E-ZPass statement below, the mainline E-ZPass toll is indeed $4; which matches, for better or worse, the I-95/Delaware Turnpike toll. The fore-mentioned $1 E-ZPass toll was for southbound traffic leaving at Exit 2 & northbound traffic entering at Exit 2.
Author
Topic: U.S. 301 toll road project in Delaware (Read 43628 times)