Saint Paul to baltimore (misc. and how do toll roads work?

[alect]

Going from Saint Paul to Baltimore with a family of five. Any general tips would be great. It is our first family road trip.

Specifically, we are not familiar with toll roads. Can we buy an electronic pass ahead of time? Do we need to drive around with a bunch of change? Not sure how this works.

Thanks so much.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

How much time do you have for this trip/are you just looking to get there as fast as possible?

Yes, you can buy a electronic pass ahead of time. You'd want to contact the Illinois Tollway about getting an I-Pass - which I believe you can order and have mailed to you. It also works on any EZ-Pass toll, so it would have you covered all the way to Baltimore. However, it also costs about $50 - which I believe is $40 in prepaid tolls and then a $10 deposit for the pass, so I don't know if it would be worth it for a one time trip.

If you don't get it, you don't need a bunch of change - the change booth tolls are basically extinct - they are only around on some exit ramps in Illinois. Otherwise, you're pretty much looking at manned toll booths as an option pretty much everywhere.

Having said all of that, the route I would take would actually have very few tolls.
I'd take I-94/I-90 to Rockford, I-39 to Bloomington IL, I-74 to Indy, I-70 into PA, then I-79 into WV and finally I-68/I-70 across Maryland into Baltimore. The only toll you'd have there would be one right as you get into Illinois. The trip is a bit over 1200 miles, so you could perhaps do it in 2 long days, but traveling as a family, having 2 overnight stops would be better.