What kind of tolls am I looking at driving from Lancaster, PA, to just north of Boston (Danvers)? I’m planning to avoid the Ben Franklin Bridge into NJ and I know the Tappan Zee is $5. It’ll probably be easiest to grab I-95 then and follow the coast until I turn north toward the Boston area.
I know NOTHING about New England driving or highways, so I don’t know how much cash to have on me for tolls in that part of things. Can anyone let me know what tolls are usually required on the general route that I’d be taking? Thanks!
You’ll pay $5.40 on the Mass Pike from the Western End to I-95, which is where I’d get off to go to Danvers. Aside from the toll for crossing the Hudson (you’ll pay anywhere you get off – you can take the Tappan Zee, the Bear Mountain Bridge, or I-84. I think they’re all the same. Don’t go through New York City), so that’s another $5.
Besides that, you’ll pay if you go on the New Yrk State Thruway and/or the Jersey Turnpike. I can’t tell you how much, since I don’t know your route, but count on about $5 more, so your total would be about $15, maybe less depending on wjhich routes you took.
There are no tolls on the Hutchinson Parkway, on Route 95 in Connecticut, or on Route 95/128 in Massachusetts.
I mapped the route on Google Maps and the only tolls in New England would be on the Mass Pike from the intersection with I-84. Is that the route you’d be taking?
I’m not entirely sure yet. I’m still downloading the data files for the Sygis GPS Navigator on my phone (3G…it’s taking a while). I’m going to assume that $25 is enough to cover it with a workable cushion.
In general toll’s in New England amount to next to nothing when compared to elsewhere.
Like Cal said for your trip have 15 bucks and that should cover everything. Past NY your only tolls are the Mass Pike which will be 4-5 dollars divided between 2 tolls.
You can take 95 from NY to Boston but that is not the preferred route unless you want to see Rhode Island and it’s traffic as well. It’s better to go through central CT past Hartford. 95 north to 91 north to 84 east to the Mass Pike east.
Mass Pike cash tolls are stupidly located on the left hand lanes be aware or be forced through the fast lanes for hefty fines.
Google Maps says that the NJ part of this would be from the PA Pike (Exit 6) to the northern end of the NJ Turnpike (Exit 18). The NJ Turnpike Toll Calculator says that would come to $7.70 cash, or $5.75 if you use EZpass during off-peak hours.
While I don’t know the tolls all that well, why even go on 95 at all? I played around a bit and saw that 287 / 87 will get you through the vast majority of NJ, a bit west of the 95 corridor. You’d pass north of NYC then. You wouldn’t hit 95 until you got right to the Boston area.
I make a similar trip a few times a year. Eastbound, I always take I-78, I-287, I-87, I-84, and I-90. The cash tolls are $1.40 on I-87, $1 for the I-84 bridge over the Hudson, and $1.75 on the Mass Pike, for a total of $4.15. There is a slightly quicker option but the tolls are a little higher and it’s not worth it to me. This option is to cross at the Tappan Zee Bridge and follow the Saw Mill Parkway to I-84. The bridge toll is $4 higher but you save the $1.40 on I-87 so it’s only $2.60 more expensive. It saves maybe 10 minutes compared to my regular route.
Westbound I take a different route because the Hudson River bridges and the New England Thruway are all free westbound. I take either I-84 and I-684 or I-84 and I-91 to I-95 and take the George Washington Bridge and the New Jersey Turnpike. The Mass Pike is the same, $1.75, there’s $2.75 on the NJ turnpike, and $1 on the I-78 bridge between NJ and PA (westbound only). Total $5.50 but the time saved is usually worth it.
I only take the GWB route if I’m confident New York City and northern NJ (and New Haven if I take I-91) won’t be too congested. That often means leaving at some crazy hour to avoid traffic.
Something to consider: an EZ-Pass transponder, if the various places take it. I know the PA turnpike does, and I know the turnpikes from DC to New York all take it. If the other tolls on your route also take it, it can free you from the need to have cash, and can be a LOT faster at some tollbooths where cash-only cars have lengthy waits.
We don’t use ours all that often. There’s one toll road in the area that I may take every 3 months, and we use it when we take the kids to / from camp in the summer; the rest of the time, it lives in the glove compartment. Only downside is you have to link a credit card to it, and they top it off with 25 dollars or so every time the balance gets below a certain figure (10 bucks or so). So they’re holding onto 25 (35?) dollars of your money as long as you have the transponder. Worth it, to save the time at the tollbooths, in my opinion :).