# Deciding where to put toll plazas on bridges **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844 "2013-07-07T02:35:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/1 "2013-07-07T02:35:23Z")
Are there general principles behind where to put toll plazas on toll bridges? The Bay Area bridges seem pretty mixed: Golden Gate Southbound Inbound Trailing side Bay Bridge Westbound Inbound Leading side Richmond Bridge Northbound Outbound Leading side Carquinez Bridge Eastbound Outbound Trailing side Benicia Bridge Northbound Outbound Trailing side San Mateo Bridge Westbound Inbound Leading side Dumbarton Bridge Westbound Inbound Leading Side Did they just flip coins? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/2 "2013-07-07T10:35:43Z")
Probably one factor is simply space. Interstate highway rights-of-way are a bitch enough as it is (in dense urban areas) to get landowners and other stakeholders to not put up a fight against eminent domain condemnation proceedings. Toll plazas have traditionally required a much wider right-of-way – although this is less true today, with automated electronic toll pass detection machines. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/3 "2013-07-07T10:47:08Z")
Another factor is often exit ramps. Ideally, you don’t want an interchange too close to a toll plaza – it just causes headaches for drivers crossing lanes, and signage gets complicated. For various reasons unique to each situation, often the nearest interchange on one side of a bridge will be closer to the bridge than the nearest interchange on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/4 "2013-07-07T15:01:42Z")
In the UK we have some bridges that are toll one way and free the other. Notably the Severn crossing, where you pay to go to Wales, bet get out free. Do you have this in the USA or Canada? ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/5 "2013-07-07T15:19:27Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Probably one factor is simply space. Interstate highway rights-of-way are a bitch enough as it is (in dense urban areas) to get landowners and other stakeholders to not put up a fight against eminent domain condemnation proceedings. Toll plazas have traditionally required a much wider right-of-way – although this is less true today, with automated electronic toll pass detection machines. This would not have been a problem in the Bay area. The bridges had toll booths on both ends for years. Traffic considerations determined which side the booths would remain. If I remember right on the Gate it was better to have traffic back up on the 101 rather than the different SF city streets. The other bridges have people stop on the way to work (into the city) with no stop on the way home after work. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/6 "2013-07-07T15:24:10Z")
That’s the case with every bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area (the bridges listed in the OP). For bridges connecting the Peninsula you pay when you enter the City (or the peninsula) and don’t when you leave. For bridges that get you out of the Bay Area you pay when you leave but not on return. I don’t know why it was done that way but for the bridges into San Francisco I have to think it is because of the traffic backup tolls cause and that it is better to have that heading out of the city rather than into it. On the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge you have a fair amount of space to stack up cars before the toll plaza. If you turned it around, all of those cars would be crammed onto surface streets and backed up to Candlestick. Plus, there’s no room on the San Francisco side to widen the road to 30 lanes (or however many it splits into on the Oakland side). ---
**Author:** ![Mornac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mornac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mornac)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/7 "2013-07-07T15:32:38Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Are there general principles behind where to put toll plazas on toll bridges? –[Anyplace that allows the hitmen to get a clear shot at Sonny Corleone.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWqy6O_axsM) ---
**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/8 "2013-07-07T17:02:53Z")
Some of it is simply politics. If you live near a toll plaza, the air quality is not so good, and if your politicians can manage it, there will not be a toll plaza there. The Verrazano Narrows Bridge connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island is one such case. All the intercity bridges in New York have tolls going in both directions except for the Verrazano where you only pay leaving Brooklyn. Basically this has transferred the air quality problems elsewhere due to traffic changes (a lot of commercial traffic now goes through lower Manhattan to avoid the one way toll). ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/9 "2013-07-08T00:21:09Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > In the UK we have some bridges that are toll one way and free the other. Notably the Severn crossing, where you pay to go to Wales, bet get out free. > > Do you have this in the USA or Canada? Yes, though my example is a fairly recent development. The Tacoma Narrows bridge is free to cross northbound, but charges a fee for southbound trips. This has only been since they built a second span (basically, another whole bridge) to ease congestion. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/10 "2013-07-08T01:13:32Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Probably one factor is simply space. Interstate highway rights-of-way are a bitch enough as it is (in dense urban areas) to get landowners and other stakeholders to not put up a fight against eminent domain condemnation proceedings. Toll plazas have traditionally required a much wider right-of-way – although this is less true today, with automated electronic toll pass detection machines. Ditto. In the New York City area, for example, the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, and Holland Tunnel all have the toll on the NJ side, because that’s where the empty space was. But for the Goethals Bridge, the tolls are in NY, because that’s where the empty space was. By the way, all four are run by the same bi-state agency, so the location would not affect which state gets the money. Also, they are all free westbound (to NJ), and the same price eastbound (to NJ). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/11 "2013-07-08T01:43:24Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > In the UK we have some bridges that are toll one way and free the other. Notably the Severn crossing, where you pay to go to Wales, bet get out free. > > Do you have this in the USA or Canada? To clarify: Yes, this is common, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 8 bridges (of which the OP lists 7), all of which have tolls in one direction only. Many many years ago, that wasn’t the case. I think it was in the early 1970’s or so (?) that they changed the tolls to be one-way only. ETA: Before someone asks: The bridge the OP missed is the Antioch Bridge (assuming you call that being in the Bay Area), on State Route 160. I think it works the same as the others, having the toll in one direction only. (Northbound, IIRC.) ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/12 "2013-07-08T02:03:38Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > In the UK we have some bridges that are toll one way and free the other. Notably the Severn crossing, where you pay to go to Wales, bet get out free. > > Do you have this in the USA or Canada? We do have this in the U.S. For instance, the rule of thumb is that no matter what toll bridge you use, you always have to pay to leave New Jersey, and never to get into the state. This is true for the Hudson River Crossings into New York City and the bridges from Jersey to Staten Island. It is also true for the toll bridges crossing the Delaware River, including those from Jersey to Philadelphia, the Delaware Memorial Bridge from Jersey into Delaware, and those upstream of Philadelphia like those carrying I-78 and I-80 across the river. (I’m not sure how the toll is figured on the New Jersey Turnpike spur that connects to the Pennsylvania Turnpike.) ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/13 "2013-07-08T03:18:28Z")
Just a data point, but the [Galveston County Toll Bridge](https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=Toll+Booth&data=!1m8!1m3!1d3!2d-95.11161!3d29.092143!2m2!1f233.46!2f79.57!4f75!2m5!1e1!2m3!1s5YYIxw6zOvOphrTHZvFL6Q!2e0!7e11!4m22!1m9!4m8!1m3!1d370987!2d-94.8019484!3d29.3407663!3m2!1i1366!2i640!4f13.1!5m11!1m10!1sToll+Booth!4m8!1m3!1d370987!2d-94.8019484!3d29.3407663!3m2!1i1366!2i640!4f13.1&fid=5) across San Luis Pass has one toll booth at the eastern end of the bridge. If heading west, you stop, pay the toll, then cross the bridge. If heading east, you cross the bridge, pay the toll, then continue on your way. Seems like a logical way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/14 "2013-07-08T03:42:35Z")
The Confederation Bridge joining NB and PEI has a toll for leaving PEI only. The toll is set at the rate the ferries charge for leaving PEI as well, so whichever way you leave, you pay. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/15 "2013-07-08T07:36:05Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > To clarify: Yes, this is common, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 8 bridges (of which the OP lists 7), all of which have tolls in one direction only. Many many years ago, that wasn’t the case. I think it was in the early 1970’s or so (?) that they changed the tolls to be one-way only. > > ETA: Before someone asks: The bridge the OP missed is the Antioch Bridge (assuming you call that being in the Bay Area), on State Route 160. I think it works the same as the others, having the toll in one direction only. (Northbound, IIRC.) The Antioch Bridge falls under the jurisdiction of the [Bay Area Toll Authority](http://bata.mtc.ca.gov/bridges/), so you might as well include it. Note, however, that the Golden Gate Bridge is under its own authority, separate from the other 7. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/16 "2013-07-08T09:39:15Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > Yes, though my example is a fairly recent development. The Tacoma Narrows bridge is free to cross northbound, but charges a fee for southbound trips. This has only been since they built a second span (basically, another whole bridge) to ease congestion. I’ve always thought of the Narrows Bridge as running east-west. (It’s really northwest-southeast.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/17 "2013-07-08T09:48:36Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > The Antioch Bridge falls under the jurisdiction of the [Bay Area Toll Authority](http://bata.mtc.ca.gov/bridges/), so you might as well include it. Note, however, that the Golden Gate Bridge is under its own authority, separate from the other 7. From another nearby thread, I see that OP lives in Sacramento area. Funny he should forget the bridge closest to Sacramento. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/18 "2013-07-08T13:36:01Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > From another nearby thread, I see that OP lives in Sacramento area. Funny he should forget the bridge closest to Sacramento. I’ll grant that it might not seem like “Bay Area”. The definition often used is “the nine counties”, and Antioch is in the eastern end of Contra Costa county. At that, the other end of the bridge is in Sacramento county, not one of the nine. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/19 "2013-07-08T14:14:26Z")
The Ambassador Bridge (between Detroit, MI & Windsor, ON) has the tollbooths on the Michigan side for both directions. I’ve always assumed that this is because the owner is American. Border screening is on both sides. In contrast, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel has tollboths on both sides, before you enter the tunnel. I believe the tunnel is run by some kind of cooperative authority. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844/20 "2013-07-08T14:59:45Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > From another nearby thread, I see that OP lives in Sacramento area. Funny he should forget the bridge closest to Sacramento. Closest but rarely used. It’s well out of the way of anywhere of interest except the rare leisurely drives in the delta. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciding-where-to-put-toll-plazas-on-bridges/662844.md?page=2)