SoapZone Community Message Board

I just got my bill for using the PA turnpike. I was on it for just under two hours (got on at Breezewood--though I would've sworn I got on it earlier--and got off at Warrendale, which is the last exit before OH) and have to pay just under $40.

What the <bleep>? What makes PA think they're so special that they can charge me triple what it cost me to drive about the same amount of time in WV? I was thrown a bit when we were coming back through PA and their toll booths were unmanned. I had never before heard of the practice of taking a picture of your plate and sending you a bill. When I didn't get one in a week or two, I thought maybe they'd either missed my plate somehow or (highly unlikely) didn't charge on Sundays. I went to dinner with a friend who told me that not only would I get the bill "maybe 6-7 weeks after your trip", but it would be a LOT. Generally I avoid toll roads; the country bumpkin in me is offended anytime I have to pay for the "privilege" of driving on a certain road (or parking somewhere). But like most of us these days, I was driving where Google Maps told me to drive. Had I known the tolls were going to be THAT steep--honestly, I was thinking it might be around $15, maybe even $20--I would've taken the time to figure out the toll-free way. I checked after I got the bill...it would've been a lot of different roads to avoid the toll road after Breezewood but it would've only added another 30 minutes to the trip.

For those who are curious...it cost me $167 in gas (5 fill ups) to make the drive from the Cleveland area down to Raleigh-Durham, then over to Nag's Head, then back to Cleveland. I paid a $4.25 toll three times in WV (also a bit annoying...would've preferred to get a ticket and then settle up at the exit rather than stop three times for toll booths), $4 on the way back going into VA from NC, $4 going into Ohio (another toll I could've avoided had I left Breezewood on a different route) and now $39.10 for two hours in PA. Had it just been me, it might've actually been cheaper to fly into Greensboro, make Sis or someone in the family pick up up at the airport, hitch a ride with someone down to Chapel Hill and back for my nephew's graduation (there were two carloads of family and friends that make the trip between Greensboro and Chapel Hill) and then get someone to take me back to the airport the next day. I don't exactly regret the trip the way I executed it--good church friend is STILL thanking me for taking her along--but man, I hate how much driving cost me.