I will be visiting a friend near Jackson, MI this summer and from SE MN the 3 driving options I have are 1) through Chicago (ugh), through the UP (pretty, but a long drive), or using the Badger ferry (might do this one way just for the experience)
The last time I visited I did go via the UP (but I was there for something else) and went through Chicago on the way back. You could still pay in cash.
Is that even an option anymore? I went to the Ill toll website - it looks like I can sign up for I-pass or pay-by-plate, the rates are cheaper for I-pass.
Seems getting an I-pass sticker might be worth it even if I only drive though every 6 years or so.
I have no definite plans to drive anywhere else the i-pass is good (obviously a factor)
Perry much convinced myself, but still posting in case I missed something
Brian
I do not think there is an option to pay with cash anymore (except the Chicago Skyway…I think). Either you use the transponder or you pay-by-plate. If you are in Chicago once every six years I’d just do pay-by-plate. You have 14-days to pay. Pretty easy.
That said, I-Pass is accepted in many states so it might be worth doing if you drive in those places.
That’s much better than say, about 15 years ago. On a business trip to Chicago (Tinley Park and Blue Island, specifically — I guess that’s the South Side [Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown, perhaps?]), it was laughable to stop and pay a toll of a measly $0.45. And then stop and pay again only a few miles later. It was laughable and such a waste of time. It was so laughable that I once collected a receipt just to submit it on my expense report to record the payment and remind myself of how silly it was. That’s probably why I remember it to this day, many years later.
I ventured a guess that the cost to slow the car to a stop, then accelerate back to freeway speeds, plus the cost of my time to do that, cost more than the $0.45 in generated revenue.
I remember when many of those tolls were just a quarter ($0.25) so we had to stop every ten or twenty miles on the parkway in Connecticut and throw a quarter in the basket. But years ago, Connecticut eliminated tolls entirely.
A few months ago, I was in the Houston area, where they have open road tolling. I went on toll roads without realizing it and then received the bill from Hertz. The “convenience charge” was about as much as the tolls themselves but I expensed it so I don’t care. But I’d be annoyed it I was paying myself.
I don’t think the tech was there yet to make it all automated.
There were lanes where a person worked and could make change or automatic lanes where you threw your change into a basket which counted it and opened the gate if you put enough in.
Trucks had to pay more and had to use the lanes where people worked.
When it’s all said and done, this is the way to go. Really, the only significant downside (set aside the usual hassles, passwords, credit cards of a new acct) is that they’ll want about $40 in the account.
I upgraded from the transponder box to the sticker this summer but haven’t used it outside of Illinois yet. However, the earlier I-Pass box has been accepted in EZPass states back East and I’m sure the current stickers are the same or better.
If I only need to drive on the toll road occasionally, registering the plate number seems simpler. Is there an advantage to having a transponder or sticker used only occasionally?
yes, pay-by-plate is an option. As mentioned the tolls are more but given how rarely I plan to use Ill toll roads may be a better option for me.
Also not usable on the skyway (legally a toll bridge with a long approach) or out of state, but those do not impact me (I think)
How good and compatible is the sticker? I have a transponder that works perfectly, even when I forget to take it out of the center armrest. And is the sticker still rent-free? And how sticky is it? I take my transponder from car to car.
As for everyone else talking about replenishment, my threshold is $10 and replenishment amount can be set as low as $4, so it’s definitely possible to have less than $20 or $40 or any other number folks are talking about. It looks like accounts created after February 2024 have a $3 threshold, meaning you could have as little as $7 in your account.
Anyway, as a Michigan resident I have an Illinois iPass because it’s rent-free and works on the Ohio Turnpike, which I use from time to time, and to cross the toll bridge between Louisville and whatever Indiana town is on the other side, as well as sometimes visiting Chicagoland. I’m not bragging, I’m suggesting that because it’s rent-free, even when you get very, very little use out of it, it’s very handy to have around for even on-off trips.
I think that is why they moved to the sticker. You need to put more money in for more cars rather than just move the transponder from one car to the next.
My information is possibly out of date but, as I understand/stood it, you must pay for tolls after your travel and you have to know which toll plazas you’d passed through and approximate time & dates.
As said, I only got the sticker this summer but it seems pretty stuck on there. I use it for my commute most days and don’t transfer it among cars. I’m not sure if preventing account sharing is the intent of the stickers but rather that advancements in remote IDs meant they didn’t need to be the relatively big boxes anymore.
Believe it or not, I found an Illinois Tollway vendor booth selling IPass accounts at a Taste Of Suburb (Schiller or Melrose Park?), over by the booths selling gym memberships and Verizon plans. I asked the bored-looking staff about getting the sticker upgrade (my transp box ‘expired’ in 2021, I think there’s a battery inside), provided my DL and they had me walking off with my sticker in just a couple minutes. They said I could dispose of the old transponder but I haven’t cracked it open yet.
I had occasion to drive through Illinois last Summer. I visited family in Wisconsin, then drove under the lake through Illinois and Indiana to get to Michigan where I visited some museums in Dearborn. I was not aware of nor was I prepared for any tolls on the Illinois freeways.
It was very easy to deal with. After arriving in Michigan, I visited https://illinoistollway.com/ and was able to pay by plate online for all the tolls I had accumulated. There were no penalties or anything like that, but I can’t remember if they charged any convenience fees. The total amount wasn’t much, $15 or so. I didn’t have to recall any toll locations or anything like that. Their system picked up the car’s plate number automatically. Very straightforward. Can’t think how it’d be any more convenient than it was for a (likely) once in a lifetime visit.
Just have to tell you to plan carefully WRT the time of day when you plan to take 80/94 under the lake. (If you eschew the Skyway.) Pretty much always a hellish drive other than overnight or very early in the AM.
The Badger is quite pricey - and slow.
I’m wondering what the route would be for taking the Skyway to/from MN? I live near 294 and the Ike, and go to MI quite frequently. But I ALWAYS take 294 (not just because the price of the Skyway pisses me off.) But to get to the Skyway would involve the joy of both the Ike and the Dan Ryan. From MN, I suppose the OP could take 90 right into the city - which might not be a special treat if ot in the middle of the night.
Plus, 294 is currently in yet another course of never-ending construction…
I’ve taken The Badger in both directions (20 years apart). It is pricey and slow, but I enjoyed the experience. Make sure you bring some snacks – the food prices are outrageous. The towns at both ends are pretty cool: Manitowoc has a great maritime museum and Ludington has a neat beach town vibe in the summer.