I just ordered by EZ-Pass Flex so I could use this road, and also because I do travel occasionally on toll roads that have EZ-pass and I like the idea of skipping the toll booths.
I would note the 495 toll road is all Virginia. Maryland hasn’t done this yet. It would be useful if they could extend it over the bridge, but they will never build a whole new bridge for this.
You have to have ez-pass to use the road; no toll booths. Also, Virginia is charging a monthly fee to have an EZ-Pass, I don’t know if other states do this, but if they don’t, I guess you could buy an ez-pass from Maryland and use it in virginia.
The charge is 50 cents a month for ez-pass, and a dollar a month for ez-pass flex, which allows you free access if you have 3 people in your car. Also, if you use the ez-pass-flex at least once in a month, AND you ONLY use it HOV, they will waive the one dollar fee (that is a bone thrown to those who they promised would never have to pay if they were HOV users).
Since I will be using the toll road on December 31st, and again on January 1st (driving to/from Md for a new years party) I figure my 1st two months are covered. After that, I guess I’m stuck.
Which pisses me off, because even though I have a Prius, I specifically did NOT get the special plates which would give me free use of the HOV lanes (not these new toll lanes) because I didn’t want to pay the extra $15 a year.
And now if I don’t visit my parents occasionally with my wife and kids, I will pay $12 a year for the ez-pass.
Oh well.
Set your EZPass Flex to “HOV ON” and you don’t pay tolls, unless you are a frequent “HOV”er in their system and it flags you to a cop and he sees you driving alone. My question is, what happens if he stops you for “illegally” being HOV and not paying tolls but you flip the switch back before he gets to your car to see what the switch is set to? What would the court decide? Your word and his observation against the system? I have yet to pay a toll on those lanes but I use them infrequently. The thermal imaging and/or IR cameras (to get through most window treatments but not baby shades...) will not be in place to automatically verify HOV-3 anytime soon.
I have a MD E-Z Pass, and it has a $1.50 monthly maintenance fee, unless I have 3 or more toll transactions on MD facilities in a given month. I do get a 10 percent discount on MD tolls with the E-Z Pass, however.