SunPass or not, you still must pay toll

Michael Turnbell | TRANSPORTATION COLUMNIST

July 13, 2008

Q I mistakenly drove through a SunPass lane at the Commercial Boulevard exit of Florida's Turnpike, but I don't have SunPass. There was no place to pull over to pay. I couldn't stop because there were drivers behind me. What do I do?

Elsie Bollinger, Fort Lauderdale

A: As wrong as it sounds, you did the right thing by not stopping.

SunPass drivers aren't expecting vehicles in front of them to stop in an automated toll lane. But just because we're telling you to keep on going doesn't mean you're off the hook. Call SunPass at 1-888-865-5352.

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To take care of the unpaid toll, make your check or money order out to Florida's Turnpike Enterprise and mail it to Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, P.O. Box 310, Ocoee, FL 34761. Include your driver's license number and license plate number with your payment.

Q When will Lyons Road be extended from Lake Worth Road to Forest Hill Boulevard?

Cecil Wray,Wellington

A: Design work is scheduled to begin this summer, but construction will not begin until U.S. 441 is over capacity at eight lanes.

Residents in Palm Beach Ranchettes battled the county to stop Lyons from slicing through their neighborhood of acre lots in an unincorporated area near Wellington. The Palm Beach County Commission decided to hold off building the extension and restricting Lyons to two lanes when it does get built.

The Lake Worth-to-Forest Hill stretch is actually one of two missing links on Lyons, a road that otherwise runs from west of Boca Raton to west of West Palm Beach. The other is between West Atlantic Avenue and Boynton Beach Boulevard.

The county will seek bids on the new two-lane Atlantic-to-Boynton Beach stretch this fall.

When both pieces of Lyons are built, the road will join U.S. 441 as a major north-south route west of the turnpike.

Q On Interstate 95 near Cocoa Beach, it looks as though the state is rebuilding the highway with thick concrete. Isn't this overkill for vehicle traffic? What is the state doing?

William Knetge, Lighthouse Point

A: The state is using concrete as it rebuilds and widens I-95 to six lanes between State Road 519 and the Beachline Expressway.

It's a demonstration project to see how concrete holds up compared to asphalt.

While concrete can be more expensive on the front end, it lasts much longer. Instead of repaving an asphalt road every five to six years, the state may be able to hold off any major repairs or maintenance for 20 years with concrete, said Steve Homan, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation in Central Florida.

But on the other side, concrete repairs can be more labor intensive and take longer, requiring entire sections of road to be replaced. Asphalt repairs usually involve milling and replacing the top layer, and the job can be done quicker.

In South Florida, concrete is found on bridges and overpasses and on I-95 south of the Golden Glades interchange in Miami-Dade. Almost all other highways are asphalt. About 95 percent of Florida's roads are asphalt and 3 percent are concrete.