I-93 Memorial Day Weekend
 

Just a heads up to those who might be traveling up to the lake this weekend via I-93 and/or the Hooksett tolls.
First of all, the open-road tolling is now fully functional in Hooksett. I went through last night, and it was a breeze. Be careful as you come through from the 293-93 merge to the toll booth, as the lane configuration may not be what you are used to seeing. You need to be in the 2 left lanes for the open-road tolling. There are still EZ Pass and cash lanes on the right.

Secondly, on 93 North in Salem they have done some paving in the Exit 1 area. The lanes are marked, but are not yet fully painted as of last night. Please be very careful in that area. With all the tourists (you guys!) :) heading north, it might be a bit of a cluster. There are 4 lanes that go past the rest area. The farthest right lane is exit only. The 2nd lane from the right you can either exit or stay on 93. That lane ends just after you pass under the overpass. Then as you know, it is 2 lanes the rest of the way.

Also, keep your speed up when you go through the new open toll lanes. Don't stop or slow down, even if you find yourself in the wrong lane
http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/dri...w/-/index.html

It's not very often you here the officials telling you to go faster! :D

NEVER NEVER NEVER stop in any travel lane!

First time I went thru a toll at speed limit was beside a tractor trailer truck on the toll in DE headed for MD; it was kinda scary at first.

A camera will capture your license plate number and you'll get a letter in the mail charging you for the toll, plus a $1 fee. So like the above post don't stop just go they will get there $$ plus a small processing fee

Since the fee is so low, lets NOT indirectly encourage those who do not have EZ Pass to go thru at high speed. Conclusion is: move over for cash payment lane(s) or get an EZpass account!

We all should have been taught and learned in our early days of driving to never stop in any travel lane of any road, from a 20MPH country road to 65MPH divided highway.

It was the paper that said the quote about the fee .....NOT me

A friend of mine witnessed a car stopped in the ORT lane in Hooksett just the other day. It didn't cause any accidents, but according to him there were some close calls.

Memorial weekend - no problem
 

Came up Saturday morning and it was a breeze. Not a whole lot of traffic. Wonder how it was on Friday night. I tend to stay in the left passing lane at the Rt93/Rt293N merge. Found if you stay in the left most lane in the ORT you will have less merge issues coming out of the ORT. Came home mid day Monday, same approch works.

Dave M

Nice for Tourism—not...
 

I just had this issue with visitors from MA, who related that signage indicated a cash-payment exit to "3-A". Not seeing a cash payment lane, they turned towards the E-Z pass lanes.

In attempting to answer their inquiry—since I don't remember paying any I-93 tolls last year—I replied that they would likely get a bill in the mail, but didn't know how much their "missing" the cash payment lane (to "3-A") would cost them.

Later this morning, I found this story, with a faulty "solution":

This is one of those rare occasions I'd support a class-action lawsuit.

It's only $1.00 plus the toll so $2.00 total. Here is the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9dtAtufPUghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9dtAtufPUg

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F9dtAtufPUg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

A class action lawsuit? For what? The signs are perfectly clear, and there are many signs in the 1-2 miles leading to the toll booth.

BTW, there hasn't been a quarter basket in use in several years.

This would be a good time for the person who wrote that story to get an E-zpass transponder.

Can't understand the confusion
 

There are certainly enough signs on I93 and I95 explaining the tolls.

If you have EZ Pass, you are looking for those lanes.

If you don't know what EZ Pass is, you would be looking for a lanes that say cash.

If you don't have EZ Pass by choice, you will be looking for the cash lanes.

I firmly believe it is not a lack of clarity that causes problems, it is inattention. As I said on another thread on this subject, long before open road tolling, drivers would be in the far left lane, and at the last moment have to cut across three lanes of traffic to get to the cash lanes.

Perhaps if this is all too confusing for them, they may not want to be driving at all.:eek::rolleye2::D

Do people really not understand toll booths?Since I started driving almost 40 years ago,change lanes have always been on the far right.And since EZ-pass was installed at Hooksett 8+ years ago EZ-PASS only lanes have been at the far left.

agree but for a while on RT3 south at Manchester toll, EZ pass was only on the right for a short stent:D

Not all the same
 

Just noting that the toll lanes are not consistent. I95 Open Roas Tolls are at left (seperate lanes) with the cash lanes on the right. Go another 5 miles on Rt 16 and there are still the "old" exact change lanes on the far left, ez pass in the middle and cash/ez pass on the right.

Not that any of that should matter if you are acually driving you car and paying attention to the road instead of the phone, newspaper, kids, texting, etc, etc.

Hopefully they will increase the fine back up to $25. for toll violations. I understand there will be a bit of confusion at first, but eventually there should be no excuse for using the ezpass lane without a transponder. $25. hurts a bit more than $2. Bigger fines will wake up the knuckle heads that can't read signs.

Shhhh! Don't let Gov. Maggie catch this. She's anal because the state voted down her casino. She will make up the 80 mill by raiding any funds that is not the general fund as well as hiking licenses and fees!

I agree with all you've said here. I wonder if a speed sensor in the new lane could be set up to automatically light up a super bright "DON'T STOP!!" sign when it detects somebody decreasing their speed as though getting ready to stop.

They are some still confused. When we came up on Sunday, 6/2, there was one car with VT plates that slowed way down (est <35 MPH) in the Open Toll Lane and the driver (looked to be in their 20's) was even looking toward the toll booths as he passed them. Later on he passed us at 70+ after we had passed the rest area.

Hence, the "Class-Action" Lawsuit...
 

My visitor navigates Massachusetts (and Boston :eek: ) just fine; but southbound, NH's repeated signage on the east side of the river directs the unaccustomed visitor to the one I-93/Hooksett exit having a toll booth!

OTOH, poorly-marked Hooksett I-93 exit 9 takes southbound drivers to the MA line without tolls.

(As I recall, anyway... :confused:).

In short, Government shouldn't be empowered to penalize citizens who do NOT conform to its electronic-media demands.

They should just have some kind of uniform pattern in every state. Like all cash goes to the right and all EZPass goes to the left.

The state spend 22.9 million to add the EZ-PASS fast lanes. Yet the toll booths are still accident prone. The state was better off using the money to maintain the infrastructure and replace the red listed bridges.

I will take the Ez Pass lanes. I guess you don't get down that way much? Besides the people in Concord have a plan to fix the red listed bridges and roads.We're just still waiting to hear it.

No it does not. Yes, there is a very clearly marked exit (exit 11, Rt 3A), and yes the cash lanes are on the right. But one would have to be more than an "unaccustomed visitor" to not know the difference. Follow the signage, it shouldn't be that hard.

And Hooksett exit 9 is poorly marked?

I really need to get some pictures to clear this mess up.

I am still confused.
 

Not sure how you visitor friend is coming up from MA, but he/she has the choice of getting off I93 North at exit 9 onto rte 28 to only have one highway to follow all the way to Wolfeboro.

If the continue north on I93, they can get off on exit 10 and with a little local knowledge ( ;) ) can navigate over to rte 28. This exit also informs that it is the last exit before a toll.

If they miss exit 10, they still have one last chance to avoid the tolls. They can take the exit to I293 south toward Manchester and say the heck with it, and go back home. :laugh:

If they are travelling south on Rte 28 they will encounter several signs directing them to I93, rte 202/4/9 in Epsom; rte 28/3 junction; College rd in Hooksett. Hopefully, the host that invited the visitor to NH has told them that if they want to avoid the tolls, take rte 28 all the way.

Which electronic-media are you referring to? Are you saying that you believe the State of NH demands that people get EZ-Pass?

If that is what you are saying, then I couldn't disagree more. How is paying cash being penalized? It is the opposite, you are rewarded with a discount for having the EZ-Pass.

EZ-Pass makes things convenient for most people, so most people choose to get EZ-Pass. I have EZ-Pass, and no one forced me to get it. I chose the convenience and the discounted toll.

Huh? If you get to Exit 9 heading southbound you already went through the tollbooth. I use that exit a lot and its marked just like any other.

the EZpass is great on the tolls, but at the same time you are thinking, as you driver through it at 65 and say wow, i just got a little lighter in the pocket just by driving, you don't get that toll feel so you almost feel jipped out of something, just me, but it seems that way, but I love not stopped at the same, time it feels like you are being nickel and dimed by being able to blast through:D:laugh:

Getting THERE...
 

It's really difficult to prove a negative, but an additional sign should go here:

http://www.jaxshells.org/829ups.jpg

:rolleye1:

:o There are times when I've felt like that! :D

...good one... :laugh:

OK...it's straightened out. My original post should have been moved to the "Getting There" forum. ;) The clue should have been the "Exit 3-A" reference. My visitor returned to MA via Concord, which is totally "Unexplored Territory" to this host. :emb:

However, they weren't strangers to that exit, and the signage (at dusk) happened to be confusing.

A small fine isn't so bad, but they'd heard a friend's costly horror story from last summer in Maryland, where the state stonewalled the friend's explanation, and I believe they had an E-Z Pass in place.

As for the personal intrusion of being photographed and penalized: Who'd want to have their whereabouts on-record—especially in a time-and-location manner—or am I the only one reading of "targeted-citizens" in headlines lately?

:eek2:

Where is that located?

Ever look at your e-z pass statement online? Time and place of every toll recorded. Big brother(being nice here) is watching. I oftern wondered if they would write you a ticked if the elapsed time between tolls proved your average speed was over 65? Oh - you might want to switch cell phone carriers if you have Verizon as well - it recent news is correct.

You can't get a speeding ticket for "average speed", by law it takes an observation, or radar by a police officer to charge someone with speeding, showing how much over the speed limit the offender was driving. There would have to be a change in the law for such tickets to be issued. Law enforcement agencies would never support a law that would decrease their force size. I'm not saying the future doesn't include drones watching speeders by air, that technology is old, police planes have been snagging speeders for decades.

I do know from first hand experience that you can get a speeding ticket in British Columbia without anybody present.I rented a car and recieved a speeding ticket in the mail a month later.The speed was taken from a fixed camara/radar instument mounted on an overhead sign.

NHDOT has design problems, and needs to observe how well EZ Pass high speed goes. IN other states, Two miles back there is good signs advising of barrier dividing the high speed lane is left, only. Cash is on right.

NH only has the dividers back half mile from toll; they diagram sign overhead does not show a barrier separation! Accidents waiting to happen!!!

Before they installed EZ Pass in NH, I emailed DOT photos I took when traveling thru tolls in DE at 65! So they then make ez pass in center lanes, not left. NOW they spend money to re-do what was done so poorly at beginning.

This truck got launched into the air...
http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/pic...z/-/index.html

You got to be kidding me.I don't know how my truck ended up vertical on the tollbooth?Really?Scary people driving out there.

Oh I can see it...
 

The cop says how the heck did this happen, and the driver says: I haven't a clue...I was reading and responding to a text, and the next thing I know...:rolleye1::eek::rolleye2: