News

RTA members,

We have been proponents of the growing 540/885 turnpike system in our region for more than two decades. It has provided an accelerated option in two ways — the freeway got built a decade or more faster (and surer), and travelers gain faster (and more certain) travel times.

Of course, travelers do have to pay to use the roadway. And whether you are a new, existing, or future customer of the NC Turnpike Authority, you might on occasion wonder how much it costs to use the Turnpike. So, as many of us leave town or travel through our region this holiday weekend, your RTA staff wanted to highlight the online toll calculator that NC Turnpike has on the NC QuickPass site.

To use the site, click on this link:  https://ncquickpass.com/toll-calculator/ and then click on Triangle Expressway.

Here are a few examples of specific costs:

• To get to Holly Springs from Raleigh or Cary via US 1 South to 540 (i.e., to bypass the stoplights from the US 1/NC 55 interchange as well as along 55 south in southern Apex), you would pay 52 cents for the approximately 2.5 mile trip.
• To travel from I-40 in Durham (at I-885) to I-40 at the Wake/Johnston border (at I-42), you would pay $8.24. This is about 35 miles, or around 24 cents/mi, and currently the highest possible toll.

Note that those prices are transponder prices, not post-pay bill-by-mail (license plate) prices. Non-transponder users pay twice the transponder price, but you should never pay that amount, since you can obtain a transponder for free.

In fact you don’t need a physical transponder at all, and you can still get the 50% transponder discount. See this prior RTA blog (and scroll down) to learn about the free virtual transponder option, and also this prior blog to learn about about the 50% discount.

One more element about our regional turnpike system:   the prices do not not vary, regardless of time of day. There is neither a peak period price nor an off-peak discount.

Let’s get moving,

Joe

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