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Has Illinois extended its toll roads around Chicago? Why doesn't Google Maps tell you what roads are Toll roads?


Ser Scot A Ellison

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12 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

Scott, clarity only applies to you back there in 1978. Bing does not provide a legend indicating what mauve, teal, light mauve or yellow means. So unless you were of a certain era/age you have no idea what that map is telling you beyond Bing's fondness for pastel colours. So good luck you back there in 'In My Day'.

I was 7 in 1978.  Teal means toll road. 

[edited to add]

But I do see your point about the information not being terribly helpful without a legend designating what the different colors mean.  

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Yeah I'm confused.  I regularly use the 'avoid toll roads' function on Google maps, and while I can't remember if another color is used, the toll roads are clearly marked on both the directions (which I screenshot in case the GPS makes my phone overheat) but also on the graphic on the main screen.

 

If you want to profess your love for an atlas or gazeteer over a nav app more power to you, but I feel like this is actually one issue where at least Google (the nav app I use) seems to be on point.

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6 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

But a map that clearly delineates which roads are toll roads and which roads are not makes avoiding, or choosing to take a toll road much easier.  Yes, there is writing the map in google that indicates "Jane Addams Memorial tollway" but it does not tell you where the tolls begin and end.  It's very frustrating to someone accustomed to clearly labeled maps.  

 

There's an easy option that you can click that says "avoid tolls".  You can even avoid highways altogether.  It's all very clearly labeled.  

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I get what you're all saying, that the functionality is in there you just have to go use it, but I think that Scots point is more to do with the obviousness of it. If the road is colour coded as a toll road then you will identify them as toll roads without even having the desire to look for it. Its actually precisely this low level thing that makes me more inclined to think there might be something to the idea of collusion between government and corporations - its nothing major, its nothing that can't be turned off so therefore the harm and the scandal are much lower, but the potential gain is very much there.

Surely its not a contentious point that humans frequently will go with what is put in front of them, even when the ability to change it is low effort. By not putting it in peoples faces that these roads are toll roads, it subtly nudges people into using them unless they are sufficiently motivated to avoid them.

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Karaddin,

Pretty much.  It's not that it's impossible to identify toll roads, nor would I want to avoid them all (which is what the "avoid tolls option provides).  I just want to be able to glance at a map and easily tell which roads are, and are not tollways.

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10 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Karaddin,

Pretty much.  It's not that it's impossible to identify toll roads, nor would I want to avoid them all (which is what the "avoid tolls option provides).  I just want to be able to glance at a map and easily tell which roads are, and are not tollways.

Sounds like a business opportunity

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1 hour ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

Pretty sure state rest areas/welcome centers still provide free maps for all them old timers without these gosh darned fancy smartphones and confusing as heck graphics. Aren't toll roads marked on those?

Hope so.  

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If you do get pulled into the vortex of Chicagoland tollways, the I-Pass transponder will pay for itself fast. I think it's still $10, but paying cash on the tollways costs double.

Also, it works in other states (I can attest it works in Indiana, New York, Ohio, etc.).

 

To your original point, yeah, why aren't Google maps marked in Green like old road atlases?  That would make a lot of sense.

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1 hour ago, The Wedge said:

If you do get pulled into the vortex of Chicagoland tollways, the I-Pass transponder will pay for itself fast. I think it's still $10, but paying cash on the tollways costs double.

Also, it works in other states (I can attest it works in Indiana, New York, Ohio, etc.).

 

To your original point, yeah, why aren't Google maps marked in Green like old road atlases?  That would make a lot of sense.

The iPass also works in West Virginia and Virginia, as well as Indiana, Ohio, and some others. I think I used it once in Pennsylvania...

I have no intention of getting rid of mine and I don't even live in Illinois anymore...

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17 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

The iPass also works in West Virginia and Virginia, as well as Indiana, Ohio, and some others. I think I used it once in Pennsylvania...

I have no intention of getting rid of mine and I don't even live in Illinois anymore...

We got one as a Christmas gift for out-of-state relatives.  Just connected it to our account so they don't have to feel the pinch when traveling from Wisconsin to Indiana.

That said, tolling for non-transponders has gotten nefarious. In many places there are no ways to pay cash. They have a new whole tollway (IL-390, formerly the "Elgin-Ohare Expressway") that doesn't have a single tollbooth.  If you don't have a transponder, you're supposed to call or go online to pay tolls.  That's insane.

That said, I'll pay a few bucks to use the tollways, as is reliably faster than surface streets, construction notwithstanding.

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10 hours ago, The Wedge said:

We got one as a Christmas gift for out-of-state relatives.  Just connected it to our account so they don't have to feel the pinch when traveling from Wisconsin to Indiana.

 

We did something similar for my inlaws...

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10 hours ago, The Wedge said:

We got one as a Christmas gift for out-of-state relatives.  Just connected it to our account so they don't have to feel the pinch when traveling from Wisconsin to Indiana.

That said, tolling for non-transponders has gotten nefarious. In many places there are no ways to pay cash. They have a new whole tollway (IL-390, formerly the "Elgin-Ohare Expressway") that doesn't have a single tollbooth.  If you don't have a transponder, you're supposed to call or go online to pay tolls.  That's insane.

That said, I'll pay a few bucks to use the tollways, as is reliably faster than surface streets, construction notwithstanding.

Massachusetts recently did this with the Mass Pike (runs the entire state east to west, and only interstate that does so).  Except they do send you a bill based on your plate (don't have to proactively pay online), but in-state plates pay less than out-of-state, and ez pass users pay less than pay-by-platers.

 

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