Toll roads going Portland, Oregon to Portland, MA

[oilboy123]

As some of you know my daughter is going to grad school in Maine. She just mentioned that she was informed of toll roads going through some of the states. I'll be traveling with her to escort her, and will be flying back home.

She also mentioned something about a pass maybe saving money. What states have these toll roads? Where I live they have some on bridges, and that's about it.....

Thanks for any info.

 

[dparm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-ZPass

 

[Kuato]

Mapquest.com will let you choose routes to avoid tolls.

 

[eljefino]

MA != Maine. And it's a mistake you don't want to be caught making in person.

 

[Stu_Rock]

Originally Posted By: dparm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-ZPass
I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be a better deal to sign up with Illinois (they call it I-Pass) than with the East Coast states.

I still have my I-Pass, even though I only get a chance to use it once every couple years.

 

[sciphi]

Definitely sign up for an Ipass/EZPass. It makes getting through the tolls faster, and it still may be quite a bit cheaper than paying cash. Once Illinois rolls around, I-90 is tolled until Maine, so it's to her advantage to get one. The time savings of zipping through a toll barrier at a slow roll compared to waiting in line for the unprepared to fumble their change is reason enough to get it!

 

[Russ300H]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
MA != Maine. And it's a mistake you don't want to be caught making in person.

Absolutely!

 

[Zaedock]

Originally Posted By: Russ300H
Originally Posted By: eljefino
MA != Maine. And it's a mistake you don't want to be caught making in person.

Absolutely!

We'll gladly give them Deval.


I'm heading back to Moab this year, but plan to stop up in Ridgefield, WA to visit family. I'm defintely getting a transponder for my Jeep (not towing this time! - maybe)

 

[mpvue]

I didn't know there was a Portland in Massachusetts.

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: Stu_Rock
I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be a better deal to sign up with Illinois (they call it I-Pass) than with the East Coast states.


Illinois I-Pass doesn't charge a monthly fee. IIRC, neither does the PA E-Z Pass.

The only difficulty you may have is some E-Z Pass states have their own bundled savings plan with specific routes that are only available with their own issued E-Z Passes. When we lived in Ballimer, my wife got a MD E-Z Pass because she could get the discounted bridge & tunnel rates that saved much more money than the monthly fee. My commute involved no toll roads so I used my Illinois I-Pass the entire time we lived there.

All of the transponders I have seen are identical except for the sticker or case color (Illinois I-Pass, Indiana I-Zoom, all of the mid-Atlantic to Northeast E-Z Pass) and all work in each other's state.

 

[andrewg]

You can very easily avoid ALL toll roads by just using a map that shows you which roads have them. I've driven across the U.S. coast to coast several times and never had to pay a toll. I will admit never having driven further northeast than New York, so perhaps from there to Maine toll roads are hard to avoid. But I think it can easily be done by planning the drive before hand. In this day and age, information is everywhere.

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: andrewg
I will admit never having driven further northeast than New York, so perhaps from there to Maine toll roads are hard to avoid.

exactly. you can't get into or out of NYC or LI without paying a toll. but out of the city no problem to go coast to coast or down south w/o a toll.

 

[oilboy123]

I'm a west coast guy as you can tell.......I realize my mistake. MA Mass, ME Maine. Spaced out......

My daughter is the smart one in the family....I will link her to this thread.....Heh! there's something I can do.........

I will talk with her about these comments Thanks Guys... even the ones having fun with my bad state knowledge.

 

[rjundi]

In NH you get a 30% discount on tolls using a NH EZ-pass. The discount does not apply in other states. It may be worth looking in getting from Maine if possible.

We spend about $30/month on tolls due to a local $1($.70/discount) toll to get onto route 95 for a meager 5miles. The full 10 miles you hit in NH costs $2. At least EZ pass allows you to drive 65MPH through the toll and not wait like a sucker.

Personally on a drive that long I would not avoid a toll road locally that is about $5 between NH and York Maine as driving around will be about 5 times as long on perfect traffic day and much longer otherwise.

 

[eljefino]

I'm cheap like the next guy but there's no good way around the Mass Pike/ NH I-95/ ME turnpike. When you're west of Albany, NY you have free options.

Since she's moving to town, leave the EZ-pass/I-pass with her. If you get it through Maine there's a pay-quarterly unlimited commuter program, IIRC.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Im not home...but later, I will see if I can map out a route to avoid toll roads. Lemme see what I can do...

 

[rjundi]

Drive through Canada and you miss all the eastern tolls. I did this not to miss tolls but a girl I met from Quebec going NH>CA.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: andrewg
I will admit never having driven further northeast than New York, so perhaps from there to Maine toll roads are hard to avoid.

exactly. you can't get into or out of NYC or LI without paying a toll. but out of the city no problem to go coast to coast or down south w/o a toll.

I was referring to the STATE of New York....I did not say the city. I drove into western NY from the west coast....and a drive from there, up to Maine, would be simple without toll roads being encountered.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: andrewg
I was referring to the STATE of New York....I did not say the city. I drove into western NY from the west coast....and a drive from there, up to Maine, would be simple without toll roads being encountered.


Best route is I-84 thru CT (if you came in on I-80, a decent idea IMO) but then hitting the mass pike is kind of interesting. You can probably shunt around it to 290/495 somehow but then you need "something" (rte 108 or 150) at the NH border to wiggle up to state rte 33, which joins I-95 north of the only NH toll. This will be a nice fat line on a map but have traffic lights, mcdonalds's and used car dealers every 2/10 of a mile for 15 miles.

Then if you stay on US Route 1 in Maine you get to go through 23 quaint touristy villages with crosswalks every 15 feet and behemoth RVs blocking intersections for three light cycles trying to turn left into a 4-parking-space root beer stand. If this is how you want to end a cross country drive, it might be pretty cool I guess, the first time.

To me it seems like the plot twist near the end of "Cannonball Run".

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: rjundi


Personally on a drive that long I would not avoid a toll road locally that is about $5 between NH and York Maine as driving around will be about 5 times as long on perfect traffic day and much longer otherwise.


This.

Google Maps recommends taking I-86/I-88 once you hit Erie, PA instead of I-90. That'll save about $20 on tolls going through NY. And, it's far less traveled than I-90. Prettier, too, IMO.