West Virginia Turnpike

[carbaugh2]

Turnpike Authority Executive Director Jeff Miller testified before the West Virginia Legislature this week.

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/08/27/lawmakers-told-turnpike-to-begin-taking-credit-cards-for-tolls-early-next-year/

Here are some highlights:

Toll booths will begin accepting credit cards.
Tolls are going up approximately 5%, but no specific amount was given.
Beckley and Bluestone Travel Plazas are expected to open before Christmas.

Addition: He made a subsequent appearance on WV on the DOT (around 17 minutes in) discussing credit card transactions and converting to all electronic tolling or open road tolling. The episode link is https://soundcloud.com/user-516204358-175198100/wv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fuser-516204358-175198100%252Fwv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades

[Great Lakes Roads]

Turnpike Authority Executive Director Jeff Miller testified before the West Virginia Legislature this week.

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/08/27/lawmakers-told-turnpike-to-begin-taking-credit-cards-for-tolls-early-next-year/

Here are some highlights:

Toll booths will begin accepting credit cards.
Tolls are going up approximately 5%, but no specific amount was given.
Beckley and Bluestone Travel Plazas are expected to open before Christmas.

Addition: He made a subsequent appearance on WV on the DOT (around 17 minutes in) discussing credit card transactions and converting to all electronic tolling or open road tolling. The episode link is https://soundcloud.com/user-516204358-175198100/wv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fuser-516204358-175198100%252Fwv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades

https://www.wowktv.com/news/west-virginia/drivers-react-to-wv-turnpike-price-payment-changes/

The cash toll rate (starting on January 1st) will go up from $4.25 per plaza to $4.50 per plaza.
$4.25 x 3 = $12.75
$4.50 x 3 = $13.50

[SP Cook]

IMHO,

- The every other year toll increases are part of what people voted for, and in a democracy, the people are always right, but the price per mile is getting ridiculous, especially considering the sub-standard nature of more than a third of the road.

- Some southern WV politicians are starting to rethink all of this, because pretty much this is you pay and others benefit (leaving out, of course, that its more out-of-staters pay and northern and eastern WV benefits) but the political numbers work against southern WV more and more each census. 

- Taking credit cards is dumb.  It enables dumbness.  Toll roads exist.  EZ Pass exists.  ATMs exist.  Maps exist.  Google Maps exists.  Signs exist.  If you are too out of it to understand any of this, you are probably too inattentive of a driver to successfully navigate the road (or life).  No matter how efficient the credit card system is, it will slow up the formerly cash lanes (and, IMHO, the way the toll booths are laid out, it is sometimes hard to get into an EZ Pass lane) on a road that, at least, has some history of backups on holidays.  Part of being a responsible driver is knowing where you are going, and that includes knowing about tolls, etc.   Put some cash, and some change, in you console and replenish it as needed.  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

[GCrites]

There is a lot of discussion in the business community about the high transaction cost of small-amount (<$5) transactions such as bus fare, tolls, single cheap product sales like candy, people buying one gallon of gas etc. Credit, debit, cash, ApplePay, internal payment systems such as standalone apps all take a large portion of the transaction size when the amount is small. Cash isn't that fast in a state like WV as opposed to places like the NYC tri-state where people pay tolls daily and have all that stuff ready to go in the console (perhaps even preloaded in those little coin distributors some cars have) A lot of times it is people stopping to open purses and wallets and fish the right coins out of their pockets. The nearest other toll road is not very close to the WV Turnpike and the culture isn't the same. Basically there is no way to win outside of EZ-Pass.

This is also why there is a movement to eliminate bus and streetcar fares since it's too hard to make decent money off of small transaction sizes and paying the operator slows down service significantly. Even kiosk paying is tough to monetize and is why the Cincinnati Streetcar eliminated fares only a few years after it opened -- meaning it wasn't remotely close to being "paid off" like the Turnpike became at one point.

[Rothman]

I haven't seen coin distributors in cars in many years.

[thenetwork]

Turnpike Authority Executive Director Jeff Miller testified before the West Virginia Legislature this week.

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/08/27/lawmakers-told-turnpike-to-begin-taking-credit-cards-for-tolls-early-next-year/

Here are some highlights:

Toll booths will begin accepting credit cards.
Tolls are going up approximately 5%, but no specific amount was given.
Beckley and Bluestone Travel Plazas are expected to open before Christmas.

Addition: He made a subsequent appearance on WV on the DOT (around 17 minutes in) discussing credit card transactions and converting to all electronic tolling or open road tolling. The episode link is https://soundcloud.com/user-516204358-175198100/wv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fuser-516204358-175198100%252Fwv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades

https://www.wowktv.com/news/west-virginia/drivers-react-to-wv-turnpike-price-payment-changes/

The cash toll rate (starting on January 1st) will go up from $4.25 per plaza to $4.50 per plaza.
$4.25 x 3 = $12.75
$4.50 x 3 = $13.50

I remember then the Turnpike was only $3.75 ($1.25 x 3) total.


I wonder if the amount of shunpikers has gone up at the north barrier, as that is a pretty easy $4.25 to dodge?

[Bitmapped]

Turnpike Authority Executive Director Jeff Miller testified before the West Virginia Legislature this week.

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/08/27/lawmakers-told-turnpike-to-begin-taking-credit-cards-for-tolls-early-next-year/

Here are some highlights:

Toll booths will begin accepting credit cards.
Tolls are going up approximately 5%, but no specific amount was given.
Beckley and Bluestone Travel Plazas are expected to open before Christmas.

Addition: He made a subsequent appearance on WV on the DOT (around 17 minutes in) discussing credit card transactions and converting to all electronic tolling or open road tolling. The episode link is https://soundcloud.com/user-516204358-175198100/wv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fuser-516204358-175198100%252Fwv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades

https://www.wowktv.com/news/west-virginia/drivers-react-to-wv-turnpike-price-payment-changes/

The cash toll rate (starting on January 1st) will go up from $4.25 per plaza to $4.50 per plaza.
$4.25 x 3 = $12.75
$4.50 x 3 = $13.50

I remember then the Turnpike was only $3.75 ($1.25 x 3) total.


I wonder if the amount of shunpikers has gone up at the north barrier, as that is a pretty easy $4.25 to dodge?

If you use the Turnpike with any regularity, you can get an unlimited use annual pass for about the cost of a round-trip along the highway. If you're an occasional user, you probably wouldn't know how to bypass the barrier. In short, I don't think there's a lot of traffic trying to bypass that barrier.

Bypassing the Pax and Ghent plazas adds significant travel time, so I don't think there are many skipping those ones, either.

[hbelkins]

Bypassing the Pax and Ghent plazas adds significant travel time, so I don't think there are many skipping those ones, either.

The Ghent plaza, yes, but not really the Pax plaza. Off at Pax, back on at Mossy (or vice versa).

I'd think trying to shunpike Cabin Creek would be longer than Pax.

I'm curious if there's been a significant amount of shunpiking at the Corridor L plaza with the opening of the East Beckley bypass.

[seicer]

- Taking credit cards is dumb.  It enables dumbness.  Toll roads exist.  EZ Pass exists.  ATMs exist.  Maps exist.  Google Maps exists.  Signs exist.  If you are too out of it to understand any of this, you are probably too inattentive of a driver to successfully navigate the road (or life).  No matter how efficient the credit card system is, it will slow up the formerly cash lanes (and, IMHO, the way the toll booths are laid out, it is sometimes hard to get into an EZ Pass lane) on a road that, at least, has some history of backups on holidays.  Part of being a responsible driver is knowing where you are going, and that includes knowing about tolls, etc.  Put some cash, and some change, in you console and replenish it as needed.  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

If people use tap-to-pay, the transaction can be completed in seconds. Dipping or swiping adds a lot more time for the "handshake" to complete.

The take on EZ-Pass for the Turnpike is still considerably lower than other toll roads but it's gaining ground. Moving towards an all EZ-Pass solution is still years away.

[thenetwork]

Turnpike Authority Executive Director Jeff Miller testified before the West Virginia Legislature this week.

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/08/27/lawmakers-told-turnpike-to-begin-taking-credit-cards-for-tolls-early-next-year/

Here are some highlights:

Toll booths will begin accepting credit cards.
Tolls are going up approximately 5%, but no specific amount was given.
Beckley and Bluestone Travel Plazas are expected to open before Christmas.

Addition: He made a subsequent appearance on WV on the DOT (around 17 minutes in) discussing credit card transactions and converting to all electronic tolling or open road tolling. The episode link is https://soundcloud.com/user-516204358-175198100/wv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fuser-516204358-175198100%252Fwv-on-the-dot-211-mike-daley-district-3-update-and-jeff-miller-wv-turnpike-upgrades

https://www.wowktv.com/news/west-virginia/drivers-react-to-wv-turnpike-price-payment-changes/

The cash toll rate (starting on January 1st) will go up from $4.25 per plaza to $4.50 per plaza.
$4.25 x 3 = $12.75
$4.50 x 3 = $13.50

I remember then the Turnpike was only $3.75 ($1.25 x 3) total.


I wonder if the amount of shunpikers has gone up at the north barrier, as that is a pretty easy $4.25 to dodge?

If you use the Turnpike with any regularity, you can get an unlimited use annual pass for about the cost of a round-trip along the highway. If you're an occasional user, you probably wouldn't know how to bypass the barrier. In short, I don't think there's a lot of traffic trying to bypass that barrier.

Bypassing the Pax and Ghent plazas adds significant travel time, so I don't think there are many skipping those ones, either.

Isn't the annual "All-You-Can-Eat" pass only for residents of WV, though?

[SP Cook]

Isn't the annual "All-You-Can-Eat" pass only for residents of WV, though?

No, anyone can have one. 

https://transportation.wv.gov/Turnpike/EZPass/FAQ/Pages/default.aspx

However, a WV resident can deduct the cost of the EZPass from his state income tax due, making it in effect free.

[Bitmapped]

Isn't the annual "All-You-Can-Eat" pass only for residents of WV, though?

No, anyone can have one. 

https://transportation.wv.gov/Turnpike/EZPass/FAQ/Pages/default.aspx

However, a WV resident can deduct the cost of the EZPass from his state income tax due, making it in effect free.

It was a deduction against gross income, not a tax credit, and it was repealed by HB 4396 in 2022.

[Rothman]

Isn't the annual "All-You-Can-Eat" pass only for residents of WV, though?

No, anyone can have one. 

https://transportation.wv.gov/Turnpike/EZPass/FAQ/Pages/default.aspx

However, a WV resident can deduct the cost of the EZPass from his state income tax due, making it in effect free.

Unless WV taxes work like federal taxes and deductions simply reduce the amount that is taxed, rather than a direct discount of the tax itself.

[hwyfan]

Did the West Virginia Turnpike at one time have variable speed limit signs along its length?

I've read that they had to be scrapped because they were incapable of showing any speed greater than 55 mph. 

[seicer]

Did the West Virginia Turnpike at one time have variable speed limit signs along its length?

I've read that they had to be scrapped because they were incapable of showing any speed greater than 55 mph. 

The displays could display any digit, but they were hard to maintain and were eventually replaced with standard metal signs.

Isn't the annual "All-You-Can-Eat" pass only for residents of WV, though?

No, anyone can have one. 
https://transportation.wv.gov/Turnpike/EZPass/FAQ/Pages/default.aspx
However, a WV resident can deduct the cost of the EZPass from his state income tax due, making it in effect free.

Is the Single Fee Discount Plan new? I don't recall having that option when I declared residency near Beckley for a period of time. I paid $25/year for an unlimited plan but couldn't obtain that flat fee when I had a Kentucky or New York address.

[Bitmapped]

Is the Single Fee Discount Plan new? I don't recall having that option when I declared residency near Beckley for a period of time. I paid $25/year for an unlimited plan but couldn't obtain that flat fee when I had a Kentucky or New York address.

It has been the unlimited offering all along. It's been open to anyone regardless of residency.

[wriddle082]

Anybody know of the current status of the service plazas?  Like if/when Bluestone and Beckley are reopened?  And I think I heard that they were putting off rebuilding Morton?

[SP Cook]

Anybody know of the current status of the service plazas?  Like if/when Bluestone and Beckley are reopened?  And I think I heard that they were putting off rebuilding Morton?

The two are scheduled to reopen December 15.  Beckley will have Exxon, Wendy's, Starbucks, and Popeye's, along with a generic C-Store under the branding "Mountain State Market".   It also will have a dedicated truck area with showers.  Bluestone will have just Exxon, Wendy's, and the C-Store. 

Morton will get a similar rebuild starting when the other two are finished, I assume this means next spring. 

I was at the Beckley area this week, and December 15 seems ambitious, especially the truck side of things.   

[wriddle082]

Anybody know of the current status of the service plazas?  Like if/when Bluestone and Beckley are reopened?  And I think I heard that they were putting off rebuilding Morton?

The two are scheduled to reopen December 15.  Beckley will have Exxon, Wendy's, Starbucks, and Popeye's, along with a generic C-Store under the branding "Mountain State Market".   It also will have a dedicated truck area with showers.  Bluestone will have just Exxon, Wendy's, and the C-Store. 

Morton will get a similar rebuild starting when the other two are finished, I assume this means next spring. 

I was at the Beckley area this week, and December 15 seems ambitious, especially the truck side of things.   

I might be going through there next week or the week after, so was just curious.  It was slightly annoying not having at least the rest area facilities available at those locations.

[Bitmapped]

https://wvmetronews.com/2024/11/26/turnpikes-25-million-toll-system-upgrade-will-get-first-significant-test-in-thanksgiving-travel-period/#:~:text=The%20%2425%20million%20upgrade%20was,ZPass%20remains%20the%20best%20option.

As part of its toll system upgrade, the West Virginia Turnpike is beginning to offer a toll-by-plate option using the E-ZPass lanes. Credit cards will begin being accepted in 2025.

[SP Cook]

The "toll by plate" is poorly designed.   Toll by plate motorists must use the EZ-Pass lanes, while the cash, and eventually credit card, motorists must use the staffed lanes.  This reduces the advantage given to the EZ-Pass motorists.  Certainly the EZ-Pass motorists should have multiple dedicated lanes, and everyone else should wait in the same line.

The turnpike is also moving towards eliminating staffed tollbooths on the "side toll" where Corridor L joins the turnpike.  Toll by plate or EZ-Pass only. 

[Rothman]

The "toll by plate" is poorly designed.   Toll by plate motorists must use the EZ-Pass lanes, while the cash, and eventually credit card, motorists must use the staffed lanes.  This reduces the advantage given to the EZ-Pass motorists.  Certainly the EZ-Pass motorists should have multiple dedicated lanes, and everyone else should wait in the same line.

The turnpike is also moving towards eliminating staffed tollbooths on the "side toll" where Corridor L joins the turnpike.  Toll by plate or EZ-Pass only. 

As long as they keep at speed, the lanes should be fine.

[Bitmapped]

The "toll by plate" is poorly designed.   Toll by plate motorists must use the EZ-Pass lanes, while the cash, and eventually credit card, motorists must use the staffed lanes.  This reduces the advantage given to the EZ-Pass motorists.  Certainly the EZ-Pass motorists should have multiple dedicated lanes, and everyone else should wait in the same line.

The suggestion that toll-by-plate users should have to use manned lanes is absurd. There's no difference in lane throughput whether it's an E-ZPass user or a toll-by-plate user.

Diverting toll-by-plate traffic out of the manned lanes lets those lanes focus on people with cash or card transactions and doesn't waste their capacity on people who don't need to be there. If more transactions can be moved to E-ZPass or toll-by-plate where they can be handled at speed, toll plaza capacity is maximized and the Turnpike's infamous holiday delays can be minimized.

[VTGoose]

As long as they keep at speed, the lanes should be fine.

Does the upgrade include increasing the EZ-Pass lane speed to something faster than the current 5 MPH?

[Bitmapped]

As long as they keep at speed, the lanes should be fine.

Does the upgrade include increasing the EZ-Pass lane speed to something faster than the current 5 MPH?

Not that I'm aware, but keeping moving at 5-10mph is still going to be much faster than coming to a complete stop and dealing with a toll collector.