Michigan Explains Why They Will Likely Never Offer EZ-Pass

Drivers who frequently use toll road will often opt for an EZ-Pass the multi-state toll transponder allows for quick and cashless passage through tollbooths. Despite having toll facilities in Michigan and neighboring states within the EZ-Pass system, the state has avoided becoming a member of the EZ-Pass network.

The state's Department of Transportation (MDOT) has now addressed why that is.

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The state employs tolls on the Mackinac Bridge between the Upper and Lower Peninsula as well as the Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario. The toll on the Blue Water Bridge was raised by a dollar at the end of 2024 and set to go up by another dollar in 2024.

The state announced the Blue Water Bridge toll hike on social media and several comments asked about the viability of EZ-Pass usage on the state's two toll facilities.

The state replied:

The Blue Water Bridge and Mackinac Bridge folks have cited the high costs of joining and maintaining participation in the EZPass program as obstacles.

As neither you nor I are experts in the world of toll road management, we'll need to leave it to the transportation experts. However, it does seem odd that toll road and bridge operators large and small have found a way to work with EZ-Pass.

The nation's EZ-Pass network includes the largest tollways like those found in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York as well as agencies that oversee a single bridge like the Peace Bridge between Buffalo and Fort Erie or the Cline Avenue Bridge near Gary, Indiana.

There is in fact one toll operator in Michigan that is a part of the EZ-Pass system. The Bay City Bridge Partners oversee two bridges across the Saginaw River that are tolled and those bridges do accept EZ-Pass transponders.

(Detroit's bridges and tunnel are neither owned nor operated by the state, so MDOT has no authority on a decision to use an EZ-Pass there.)

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Source: Michigan Explains Why They Will Likely Never Offer EZ-Pass on the State’s Toll Bridges

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