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The above is a picture of a toll plaza on the Dulles Toll Road in the US state of Virginia. Note the structure: barrier free lanes on the left with an overhead gantry for transponder (EZ Pass) users with separated toll lanes on the right giving a choice of exact change payment or full service. Not shown on the picture is that the road has separate inner lanes with no toll for those going directly to Dulles Airport, the main international airport for the Washington area.
This layout solves many problems. Anyone with EZ Pass speeds through immediately. But you don’t have to get one and can pay the same price trip by trip in any manner you choose. And if you’re going to the airport, you don’t pay at all.
One wonders if any consideration was given to these options within the NRA for the Westlink. Has there been a longer lasting disaster than the original 2-decade old decision to give the Westlink concession to a toll road operator for a pittance?
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
I imagine the Dulles lane has some means to record your details getting on and off so as to be sure that you really are going to Dulles or that this plaza is at the end of the route and that lane feeds directly into the road to Dulles which you can’t get off easily.
Once you’re in the airport lanes it’s hard to get out. And it does require some occasional police monitoring to ensure people going to destinations near the airport don’t go all the way out and do a U-turn. But the philosophy was that the toll shouldn’t be an impediment to getting to the airport, especially given the lack of rail options for getting there.
I agree with the sentiment just that it would require significant re jigging of the M50 and an off ramp just to the airport to achieve this. We were hamstrung from day one when the road was a publicly funded effort that was channelling through a private for profit bottleneck.