I'd rather sit in traffic!

Barnyard

Barnyard

Moderator
Staff member
Coming home from the Rocky Mountain CubFest I decided to avoid about a half an hour of traffic congestion on I-25 and 270 by taking the I-270 toll road. The distance is about the same (around 26 miles), but a lot less traffic. Well, the other day I got the toll bill in the mail. It was $40.00 to avoid that 30 minute wait in traffic. At that rate I will gladly sit in traffic. That equals $80.00 and hour. I'd like to find a part time job sitting in traffic at that salary.
 
Lt.Mike":1b8akzv9 said:
Guessing they hit you off for driving a dually and pulling a trailer.
Click to expand...
No doubt. We also take the KC turnpike toll road on I-70 going to the same CubFest. $6.25 for 20+ miles with the same rig. That wasn't bad.
 
It used to be Maryland that clobbered you for dually wheels and pulling a trailer now NJ does it too.
 
That toll road charges by the axle. Axles 3 and 4 each cost about as much as the first 2 together. I have been hit many times by a similar toll scheme in Oklahoma (I-44). This is what you get when people refuse to pay reasonable taxes for roads. You end up with tolls that not only build the roads, but pay for all the equipment and separate organization to operate the road and collect the tolls. It encourages people to totally avoid such areas and spend their money somewhere else.

I avoid the Chicago area and don't get any closer than about Bloomington, even when the GPS says it is the quickest route. Tolls there are a fortune and there is a near guarantee of a traffic jam somewhere in the area that will cost an hour or more.
 
Some places tried the time check and issue a ticket idea. I think they mostly ran into problems that forced them to give up. I looked online at the toll rates on the road that (I think) Barnyard used. It calculated a toll of $40.45. If I got the wrong road, I hit one nearby for about the same distance.
https://www.e-470.com/toll-rates/calculator/
 
The PA Turnpike, back in the 60's when they used printed paper tickets to determine the toll charge, printed the time that the ticket was issued. When I was much younger, I was questioned by a toll taker because my time was so short. I had traveled well in excess of the speed limit. Thought I was really in trouble that time. Just a warning, though.
 
Don McCombs":1z8dj06e said:
. . . printed paper tickets . . . the time that the ticket was issued. . . .
Click to expand...
Indiana tried it and did actually issue tickets. People quickly figured out that it was cheaper to throw the entrance ticket away and pay the maximum toll. Most cars that went far enough to register much time difference probably owed most of the maximum toll anyway.

To issue tickets that could stick, the booth operators would have had to be deputies. Maintaining and documenting that would have been a big effort. The clocks at the ticket printer would have to be certified and checked (possibly by a deputy as well). I distinctly remember that the time printed on a lot of those tickets was pretty far off. (I know they were in Ohio and Indiana, and would guess many others were as bad.)
 
Jim Becker":3bgxkw3x said:
Some places tried the time check and issue a ticket idea. I think they mostly ran into problems that forced them to give up. I looked online at the toll rates on the road that (I think) Barnyard used. It calculated a toll of $40.45. If I got the wrong road, I hit one nearby for about the same distance.
https://www.e-470.com/toll-rates/calculator/
Click to expand...
Jim, you pretty much hit it right. The toll was right around $40.80.
John *.?-!.* cub owner":3bgxkw3x said:
May not be the circumstance, but don't many of those toll roads compare check in and out times, and charge a penalty if it is to short, such as a lead foot?
Click to expand...
John, because of my PA turnpike days when I traveled from Fort Lee Virginia and home in the 70's I made sure my speed was legal on I-70 last month.
 
Back in my Valley Forge Army hospital days, I traveled the Pa. Turnpike quite a bit. I was young, with a fast car so I would always stop at a service plaza, for a sandwich. I had to eat lunch, anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top