CHARLESTON, W.Va. — New signs posted along the West Virginia Turnpike remind drivers that the tolls on the 88-mile highway can only be paid with cash or through the E-ZPass system with a transponder.
No credit cards or debit cards are accepted at toll plazas.
Many drivers are getting caught without the $2 needed to pass through toll plazas at Ghent, Pax and Chelyan, according to Greg Barr, general manager for the West Virginia Parkways Authority which runs the West Virginia Turnpike. The toll is higher for commercial vehicles.
“It’s part of the modern day mindset now. A lot of people want to use their credit cards and Apple Pay and electronic payments and they don’t carry as much cash as they used to,” Barr said.
To keep traffic moving, Barr said, cash is faster.
“It takes more time, believe it or not, to hand somebody a credit card, to swipe the card. There are times when the cards don’t read, you have to swipe them again and then, maybe, you have to give the card back and get a different card,” he said of card transactions.
For those committed to their cards, Barr recommended the E-ZPass system which lets drivers pay tolls electronically as they pass through specially equipped toll lanes.
The system has three components: a toll transponder, which is placed inside a vehicle; an overhead antenna, which reads the toll transponder and collects the tolls; and video cameras to identify those who run through E-ZPass lanes without payment.
The West Virginia Parkways Authority offers personal and commercial E-ZPass accounts that are discounted in some cases.
“The future of tolling will be open road tolling or all electronic tolling and there won’t be any booths,” Barr predicted.
A transfer to full electronic tolling, though, he said would require a large capital investment upfront along with support for current toll collectors who will have to transition into other jobs.
Barr said such a change is not possible on the West Virginia Turnpike currently.
“We can’t make that kind of investment because we have uncertainty about whether we’ll even have tolls on the road after 2019,” he said.
As of now, the tolls are scheduled to be removed from the Turnpike four years from now, once the bonds for the highway are paid off fully.
The Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways, though, has recommended continuing the tolls indefinitely and possibly raising those tolls to pay for $1 billion in road construction bonds for projects throughout West Virginia.