Free Republic

ORLANDO, Fla. - One state lawmaker isn’t ruling out the possibility of an investigation, while thousands of customers wait for tolls to start posting to their SunPass accounts.SunPass conducted a major upgrade earlier this month, and since June 1st, many drivers haven’t seen any charges yet. Officials had promised to post those toll charges gradually, so as not to overwhelm the system.This delay is already causing concern for some drivers—like Mark Hammonds, who we caught in between trips that often take him on the turnpike. “You’re at risk of not being reimbursed if you don’t file them timely,” he said. The state...

Here are two recent events you might have missed: In March, House speaker Paul Ryan was widely quoted as saying, “The last thing we want to do is pass historic tax relief and then undo that, so we are not going to raise gas taxes.”The next month, in California, Republicans submitted 54 percent more than the required signatures to put on the November ballot a measure that would repeal the 2017 state law increasing gasoline and diesel taxes. Meanwhile, roads in Los Angeles are in such bad shape that it costs the average driver $892 a year in additional vehicle...

Use of the E-ZPass electronic payment system has grown exponentially across the Washington region in recent years as the network of toll lanes has expanded in the Interstate 95 corridor with new facilities from Stafford County to just north of Baltimore. Both Maryland and Virginia are actively promoting E-ZPass, hoping to reduce cash payment at toll plazas — where the option exists — and to encourage the seamless use of all-electronic toll facilities such as the 495 Express Lanes and 66 Express Lanes in Virginia and the Intercounty Connector in Maryland. In that spirit, Maryland announced last week that it...

It's time to mount a serious campaign to end tolls in Miami-Dade County. Any time the government wants to charge people money, we should be allowed to vote on it. Florida's Turnpike Enterprise and the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) are highway robbers preying on predominantly poor motorists struggling to have a roof over their heads, put food on the table, and take care of their families. I remember the days when there was only one toll on State Road 112 when you left Miami International Airport to get to Miami Beach. Now there are tolls on virtually every major highway...

The Maryland Transportation Authority is exploring phasing out all cash toll booths across the state. Today, tolls are collected three ways: by cash, or electronically, by either an E-ZPass transponder or by video tolling — when the state uses a license-plate photo and mails drivers their bill. Transportation officials say that the transition to all-electronic, high-speed toll collection will: save drivers time on their commute, save the state money, reduce accidents at toll plazas, and reduce CO2 emissions as less fuel is being burned, according to a national study by the University of Central Florida. Drivers in Maryland could start...

GRAND ISLAND, NY - The New York State Thruway Authority announced Wednesday that cashless tolling on Grand Island will be operational the night of Thursday, March 29. For months, there has been construction near the North Grand Island Bridge on the 190 southbound and on the 190 northbound near the South Grand Island Bridge. The actual gantries, which drivers will go under to pay their toll, are being built. Once the system becomes operational, according to the Thruway Authority, drivers for a brief period of time will go through the old toll plazas, which will not be operational and then...

Drivers from northern states that use the E-ZPass system for toll roads will be able to use their passes to drive on some Central Florida toll roads — and get the same discount SunPass users receive.Central Florida drivers, however, will not be able to use their EPasses to pay for tolls if they travel to the 16 E-ZPass states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and South Carolina.“One of our main objectives is to improve the ease and uninterrupted travel that E-ZPass customers enjoy, and portability to the Sunshine State is certainly a common request,” E-ZPass Group Executive Director P.J. Wilkins...

Is that toll collector in the booth an endangered species? Not quite with 387 collectors working for the Illinois tollway in 2018, but the numbers are dwindling as the agency moves toward an automated system. Through attrition, toll collector jobs will drop by 32 next year, which accounts for nearly 60 percent of the 55 eliminated positions agencywide, according to the proposed budget recently released. Other budget highlights include an estimated $60 million spike in revenues and a $269.7 million increase in capital spending from 2017. Overall the operations and maintenance budget, which includes salaries and equipment, will rise by...

Will your E-ZPass allow you to pay a toll in a faraway state, where toll tags are named something else like SunPass or FasTrak? The concept to do that is called "toll interoperability" and it was supposed to go nationwide last October under a federal mandate. That means is Jersey drivers could use their E-ZPass on any toll road or bridge even if it uses a different electronic toll payment system. It would allow different toll systems communicate with each other and properly bill a driver who uses another agency's tag. The idea differs from electronic tolling which bills the...

HARTFORD – Toll talk is back at the State Capitol. Some lawmakers say it will drive billions into the state over the next two decades and others want to put the brakes on the idea.At a hearing, Monday, the proposal to bring electronic tolls to Connecticut highways was discussed, with public comment both for and against it.State accountants said the way Connecticut funds transportation will no longer be sustainable in the next four years and a new revenue source is needed.“This doesn't make any sense at all," State Sen. Toni Boucher said. "This is just another name for another tax...

Josh Kalin drives between Delray Beach and Delaware a couple times a year to visit his son and he has to have a SunPass and an E-ZPass account to pay the tolls. "It's a pain in the neck," said the 80-year-old retired opthalmologist. There's no end in sight. Although Congress required that all state toll systems be compatible by October 2016, the deadline passed and no new target date has been set. "We are unaware of any federal action as a result of the missed [deadline]," said Chad Huff, with Florida Turnpike Enterprise. Florida's SunPass, Georgia's Peach Pass, and North...

Across the country people have tried all sorts of ways to trick all-electronic tolling technology from capturing their license plates in order to avoid paying a toll, but officials in Massachusetts said the tricks aren't new and the technology is ready to catch the scofflaws.Massachusetts will move to all-electronic tolling on Friday and has Raytheon's All Electronic Tolling System ready to read E-ZPass transponders as well as take pictures of the vehicles including the rear and front license plates if drivers go through without a transponder.Raytheon's system is able to take color pictures of vehicles and track the make and...

The Massachusetts Turnpike is in uncharted water as EZ Pass has replaced cash along the state’s turnpike system and many toll collectors have been laid off. In a world where many systems have gone electronic from payment for movies to parking, it was only a matter of time before the personless, electronic system eventually took over toll roads, as well. Along the Massachusetts Turnpike, it happened this weekend with toll collectors working their last shifts and the state moving quickly to tear down the booths where collections happened for decades. According to the Boston Globe, the new cashless collections system...

The Commonwealth of Virginia awarded procurement of its Transform66 Outside the Beltway project to I-66 Express Mobility Partners, a consortium of private companies, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced on Nov. 3. I-66 Express Mobility Partners, which consists of transportation infrastructure company Cintra, public infrastructure investment firm Meridiam, and the contractors Ferrovial Agroman US and Allan Myers VA, Inc., will be responsible for financing, designing, building, maintaining and operating the interstate expansion. The Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Transform66 Outside the Beltway project will add two express lanes in each direction between I-495 and Gainesville along with three general purpose lanes...

America's roads and bridges got a real workout in 2015. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, drivers last year logged more miles on our roads than in any year in U.S. history — more than 3.1 trillion miles — an increase of more than 3% over 2014. Wisconsin is part of that trend with more than 60 billion of those miles traveled. But, too often, Wisconsinites find themselves idling in traffic or on slow-going, bumpy roads. I'm sure it was not a surprise when a study commissioned by the Local Government of Wisconsin Institute concluded last spring that Wisconsin...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Take a drive on Florida's toll road. It's not how far you go that determines what you pay. We found it may be the car you drive. "I was mad going on vacation with my wife," explained Steve Pasek. For Pasek, the memories of his Florida vacation are as fresh as the snow back in Ohio. He declined the rental car company's toll service. With the rental car company's automated billing services, you are billed weeks after you return the car. A third party company is used to send you the bill. While Pasek declined...

TAMPA, FL (WFLA) – Driving on Florida toll roads is part of doing business for trucker Bill VanEpps. “Tolls are a huge expense, and it adds up to a lot of money at the end of the year,” Bill said. He noticed a lot of mistakes with his EPass account so he switched to SunPass in January. “I’ve discovered weekly mistakes,” Bill added. Between January and September, Bill found 42 mistakes by the SunPass electronic tolling system. “My rig is a five axle rig. I’ve been charged for as many as 7 at one time. I’ve been charged for as...

We've got a secret the rental car companies would prefer you didn't know. people camping in RV More The Cheapest Way to Roadtrip Might Surprise You 3 Ways to Avoid Costly Rental Car Insurance These Are the Most Hated Fees in America This won’t come as news to commuters and frequent road trippers, but drivers are encountering more and more toll roads, as well as higher and higher tolls on the existing ones. The latest example is I-10 in Texas, where plans called for the maximum toll during peak travel hours to shoot from $7 to $10 as of May...

Maryland may eventually do away with tollbooths on the state's highways, bridges and tunnels and switch to electronic toll collection. A preliminary report by the Maryland Transportation Authority concluded that converting its seven toll plazas is feasible but would cost as much as $180 million. Transportation officials initiated the study as they look for long-term savings and ways to reduce travel time and increase highway safety. "It's something we're interested in doing. It's something the industry is moving toward. But it's complicated and we're in the earliest stages," said Harold Bartlett, the transportation authority's executive secretary. At least eight states...

Back when George Shultz was US secretary of state, he made a practice of asking every newly appointed ambassador to locate his country on a globe. When the unsuspecting emissary put his finger on, say, Thailand, Shultz would correct him: "Your country is here," his finger on the United States. The story comes to mind on news that some 50 former American diplomats, taking their cue from their British counterparts, have put their names to a letter denouncing President George W. Bush's policies vis-a-vis Israel and the Palestinians. -snip- Suffusing WRMEA's pages is the conceit that they represent truly "American"...