It's not so E-Z on Pa. Turnpike

IF YOU DON'T have E-ZPass, be careful following your GPS or online map when it comes to two interchanges onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The exits are E-ZPass only, and a Turnpike Authority spokesman says motorists who do not have E-ZPass tags could pay a lot more if they accidentally use them.

They are Exit 352, the eastbound-only Street Road interchange in Bensalem, and Exit 340, the westbound-only Virginia Drive Interchange near the Fort Washington Office Center in Upper Dublin Township.

Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said the E-ZPass-only exchanges are clearly marked.

Still, he said, the authority has received calls from motorists complaining that a GPS or an online map directed them to the exchanges and they ended up on the turnpike without a toll ticket.

Without the transponder or ticket, you are required to pay the toll from the farthest point from where you exit.

For example, getting on at Virginia Drive and getting off at the Fort Washington exit will cost you $37.90, if you don't have an E-ZPass. That's what it costs if you get on the turnpike at the Ohio border and pay cash when you exit at Fort Washington.

- Staff report