hello I am visiting TX next week, will be driving around dallas, austin, houston etc...my question is if I avoid toll roads will it be slower? it will be my first time in the area so I am no idea about the area...just how good is it when you use tomom's avoid toll road option? thanks
avoid toll roads
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dhn
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I can only comment from personal experience. Near where I live is a toll road. I set TT to NEVER avoid toll roads because I'm prepared to pay what it takes on this road (407) to save time over what I know TT would pick as an alternative (400) which I try to avoid whenever I can.
If the road system in TX as it is here where your choice is to pay but save lots of time by travelling the toll road over free but taking more time, well, that's a decision only you can make.
The nice thing is that the user has a choice by how he or she sets the preference.
Hopefully, we have a poster here from TX or who knows the road system there to provide more input.
Do TT test
Or you could let TT prepare a route with and without toll roads, and check the estimated travel time.
This will not be exact, but it may be an indicator.
Or you could let TT prepare a route with and without toll roads, and check the estimated travel time.
This will not be exact, but it may be an indicator.
I'm not from that area but have driven through Texas and my son lives in Houston. There is a short section of toll road near the Houston airport. The toll is trivial but does require exact change. The way around it is somewhat lengthy. I would recommend that you have a fair number of quarters and take the toll road if you encounter one. However, the idea of having Tom plan the route with and without toll roads would give you a better idea.
hey guys thanks a lot, I think I will just go ahead and pay the toll roads, once I am familiar with the area I will then avoid toll road when it's apporporate.
also the map version I have is v675 for pda....is it like a year old I believe? how often do you guy update your map and when do you need to? I mean I only just use it for hotels, tourist attractions, and fixed points like that I can probably use old old map version and will be ok, but exacly when do you guys update your map. and updated maps contains I guess updated roads, fixed mistakes, etc?
so i alway use "the fastest" route....is that what you guys use? I compared that to google map directions and they take different roads! tomtom being as big as they are I guess I will go with and trust tomtom's directions.
also the map version I have is v675 for pda....is it like a year old I believe? how often do you guy update your map and when do you need to? I mean I only just use it for hotels, tourist attractions, and fixed points like that I can probably use old old map version and will be ok, but exacly when do you guys update your map. and updated maps contains I guess updated roads, fixed mistakes, etc?
so i alway use "the fastest" route....is that what you guys use? I compared that to google map directions and they take different roads! tomtom being as big as they are I guess I will go with and trust tomtom's directions.
Here is my personal experience
I tried to route from Philadelphia to New York
with avoiding toll roads, the travel time is 13 hours!!! WTF
with never avoid toll roads, the travel time is 2 hours...
I don't know how it get 13 hours but I guess it avoid all highways
I tried to route from Philadelphia to New York
with avoiding toll roads, the travel time is 13 hours!!! WTF
with never avoid toll roads, the travel time is 2 hours...
I don't know how it get 13 hours but I guess it avoid all highways
Arno
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As a general observation one should presume that Toll roads will be faster.
Why would anyone pay road tolls to get a slower route?
Do what I do before going to a strange area. Open Google maps and plan out your whole trip.
This way you get a bearing for the lay of the land.
TomTom is very good in avoiding toll roads if so instructed.
But, read my reply to the other post below.
Arno
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That sounds about right.
Remember, these instructions, just like avoid freeways are of the all or nothing kind.
When you select that option TomTom will avoid ANY place that charges toll.
This means the you will have to drive on mosty secondary roads and must avoid all bridge tolls.
Not being thoroughly familiar with the area I would guess that you probably will have to go up to Poughkeepsie, NY or higher to cross the river without charges.
Going down from White Plains to Manhattan shouldn't be that swift either.
At this point I decided to simulate the route. With tolls it came back at 1 hr 38 min. Without tolls it showed 2 hr 06 min.
That sounded ridiculous, so cheking the route I find that it was scheduled to go through thr Holland Tunnel !
Clearing route and doing it over again it came back this time that it could not plan a route.
If you want to check out the roads and tolls, you can go to www.texastollways.com for a rundown.
On around 1 hour trips in my area of florida, avoiding tolls only adds about 1 to 5 minutes to the travel time. In fact, there are so many areas in Tampa that you can get onto the same exact expressways without having to pay any toll at all.
You can avoid the tollways in Dallas. Going north you can take Hwy 75 or 35 depending on where you're going. The only other tollway is now on Hwy 121 but you don't have to take it. That one will mail you a bill if you don't have a tolltag and there are no tollbooths so is easy to use.
This is probably too late, but in Houston, many of the toll roads have feeders you can drive on. I'm not sure if TomTom will take you on the feeders or not since I usually just take the toll roads.
He is correct. I know in Houston that the outter loop that is toll has a frontage road (What we call them here in Minnesota) that runs all the way along it. It has stop lights here and there but its not so bad. No tolls at least.
I drive truck over the road for a living plus having a good number of friends and family down there, Texas is the only state that decided no to use the same highway principal that the rest of the country uses. I hate there road/ramps/etc down there. Its way to much work to goto anywhere.
Just be careful on those booth-less toll roads, like SH 121 north of Dallas, and the southern end of the Dallas North Tollway. If you're in a rental car, there have been cases where the rental agency charges your card an inordinate fee, like $50 bucks, for a few bucks' worth of tolls.
It may be worth it to get a transponder. There are two agencies in North Texas (don't know much about the situation in Houston and Austin) -- the state DoT, and the NTTA (North Texas Tollway Authority). The TxDOT tag only requires a $20 fill, while the NTTA tag requires a $40 fill. But the NTTA tag can be used to pay your parking at DFW and Love Field airports. However, both tags are good on toll roads throughout the state.
http://www.txtag.org/ - TxDOT
http://www.ntta.org/ - NTTA
It may be worth it to get a transponder. There are two agencies in North Texas (don't know much about the situation in Houston and Austin) -- the state DoT, and the NTTA (North Texas Tollway Authority). The TxDOT tag only requires a $20 fill, while the NTTA tag requires a $40 fill. But the NTTA tag can be used to pay your parking at DFW and Love Field airports. However, both tags are good on toll roads throughout the state.
http://www.txtag.org/ - TxDOT
http://www.ntta.org/ - NTTA
I live in Central Texas, just downloaded TomTom's latest USA and Canada map and find they are still about a year behind in keeping up with new TX 130 tollway segments that are now open in and around Austin. I also checked Navtech (which Garmin uses) and Google Maps - which I checked just now - and they are just as obsolete. Only Mapquest shows the newly opened segment. Don't know why that is.