The Dulles Toll Road will officially bid adieu to cash tolls March 1, when it shifts entirely to a pay-by-plate system for any driver not using an E-ZPass.
The transition to a cashless system will see all remaining coin baskets deactivated, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said in a release. Any driver not using electronic payment methods will be sent an invoice to the address corresponding to the vehicle’s license plate.
From a cost standpoint, the move should incentivize any E-ZPass holdouts to make the switch. The pass remains the most affordable option for the toll road and is accepted at numerous toll facilities nationwide, MWAA said.
The current E-ZPass rate at the Dulles Toll Road’s Main Plaza is $4 and $2 at the ramps. The Main Plaza rates increased from $3.25, while the rate at the ramps went up from $1.50 in January. Those increases were the first since 2019.
Non-E-ZPass users, meanwhile, will incur an extra $1.60 charge over the standard costs of plaza and ramp tolls. The fee will cover the cost of preparing and processing pay-by-plate invoices, officials said.
Drivers without E-ZPasses can pay tolls online before or after receiving invoices at tollroadsinvirginia.com, the release said. Mobile applications, such as GoToll, Uproad, Slora, and NextPass, offer additional payment methods, but include processing fees.
The cashless transition is the latest step in a phased removal of toll booths along the heavily traveled Dulles Toll Road.
In 2022, a total of 726,367 transactions along Dulles Toll Road were made via cash payment. Those transactions accounted for just 2 percent of all toll payments.
Signs are currently posted at toll plazas indicating the imminent change, which MWAA said will speed traffic flow and reduce emissions by scaling back the amount of time spent idling in line.
Tolls collected fund the road’s operating and maintenance costs, as well as part of the cost for Metro’s Silver Line to Dulles International Airport.
Feature image courtesy Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
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