Toll Passes for Traveling

Boy oh boy did I get in over my head this time! When we were passing though a couple roads up north we found out that Interstates are being tolled. For us from Florida, that completely blew our minds that an interstate was being charged and not to bi-pass, expressway, or save time. Why were they charging on an INTERSTATE?

Our local area put in a toll road that completed opening in 1998. The name? “The Polk Parkway” and it was a great addition for us. A couple bucks and you could get around Lakeland in a matter of 20 minutes, where it would have taken an hour to go through the normal roads. A few years ago, it went to a digital payment and no more cash accepted.

Everyone in our family that had a car wound up getting the SunPass. A new fangled transponder that beeped and took away money every time you passed a sensor.

Thankfully it was accepted in most of Florida.

I have now learned that Florida has 700+ miles of toll roads. I just really don’t know what they are doing with the moneys.

In the north, we realized our SunPass was not accepted everywhere, and found out about the Uni Pass. It is accepted in 19 states, requires a transponder, and offers discounts on tolls for paying digitally. There are a few other perks to look at when buying your pass, we’ll talk about that later.

Here are a list of toll passes from around the country. I’m only going to point to the ones accepted in many areas.

Types of passes:

We had to consider where we were going to need a pass. The Uni Pass covered the areas we were headed into. We looked no farther, and ordered it on Amazon. Setting it up was easy.

Order the transponder. Go to website. Register transponder. Add payment information to account. Add vehicle information to account. Drive through tolls. Watch your money disappear.

National Pass is trying to expand across all the toll roads in the US. They do have a charge for the transponder, along with a monthly service fee, and a minimal account balance. As an RVer, this one would not work for us. But if you are an over the road driver, it may be a good option.

The other transponder systems are not as far reaching. If you are not traveling out of state you may not need one of the multi state transponders.

We also see that some of the transponders can be used to pay for parking at major airports. Definitely makes it easier than cash or card payments on the way in or out.

A word of caution though. If you do get more than one transponder and they both are accepted, you may get charged on each one. You should put the one you don’t want charged in a RF Blocking bag.

Here is some of the information about toll roads I have learned:

South Carolina has one section of toll road, the Southern Connector, I185, 16-mile toll road from i85 yo i385

Vermont, no TRAVELING toll roads (but has some to the summits of Burke Mountain, Mount Mansfield, and Mount Equinox.

Tennessee does not have any toll roads as of 2024, but looks like they are adding some by 2026

States with out toll roads (as of 2024): Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Arkansas

Florida has 719 miles of toll roads, express lanes, and bridges.

We are NOT associated with any of the toll passes, just sharing what information we found researching.