Dulles Toll Road in Mclean, Virginia plans to go cashless on March 1

Beginning March 1, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is no longer accepting cash or coin payments. Dulles Toll Road is transitioning to E-Z Pass payments and a pay-by-plate system, according to WTOP, A Washington, D.C.-based news source.

The 16-mile roadway stretch will require a $4 payment for E-ZPass drivers utilizing cars and trucks from the central plaza and $5.60 for pay-by-plate.

Cameras, stationed at tolling booths, will systematically take photographs of license plates, sending drivers an invoice in the mail under the new pay-by-plate system.

The pay-by-plate system affords drivers convenience at the expense of rising costs, amounting to $1.60 in administrative fees.

E-ZPass motorists pay $2 tolls from ramps; while pay-by-plate motorists pay $3.60.

The transition to a cashless system is expected to accelerate traffic flow and diminish carbon emissions caused by cars idling in toll booth lines.

The disposal of 25 toll booths is an expected ambition of the airports’ authority, curtailing maintenance costs.

A total of 726,367 cash or change toll payments, amounting to 2% of all transactions were made at the central plaza in 2022, according to the airports' authority.

The Airports Authority disposed of 34 toll booths with the purpose of creating E-ZPass express lanes in 2019.