Talk:California State Route 73

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[edit] "Innovative" tollbooths?

Several tollways in the Chicago area--the East-West Tollway (I-88) and the North-South Tollway (I-355) come immediately to mind--have had barrier-free toll booths since the early 1980s. --Slightlyslack 2 July 2005 20:44 (UTC)

Let me explain why it is innovative. When it states barrier-free electronic toll collection, it means that patrons with a FakTrak transponder pass through a main-line 'toll plaza' without even stopping or slowing down. There are no booths or obstructions at all. Cash patrons go into special lanes that diverge away from the toll road where they stop at booths which are controled by a red/green lights. 'Toll ramps', which are at ramps that lead on/off the toll road are similar. These access ramps have one lane for FasTrak patrons and one or two lanes for cash patrons. Real toll booths are located in all cash lanes and have state-of-the-art toll collections systems. The machines that are used during off-peak hours can take cash, pay your toll, and make change all in one transaction. As stated before, there are special lanes for FasTrak patrons where there are no booths or obstructions and pass through a toll plaza or toll ramp without slowing down. But FasTrak patrons, if they really wanted to, could also drive through any cash lane on a ramp or plaza. Computer systems detect which car they are in a line of cars (if any) and automaticaly gives them a green light. The most benefitial use for this is on exit ramps where a FasTrak patron would want to make, say, a right turn, but the FasTrak lane is on the left and would have to merge back after passing through the toll ramp. To correct Slightlyslack, the Chicago area tollways could not have had barrier free toll booths in the early 1980s since the first toll system to use electronic toll collection (ETC) technology was in Texas at the end of 1989. --Bapinney 07:27, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I would like to know exactly how many miles are saved by taking Route 73 rather than staying on the interstate.

If you take the I-5/405 route you go approx 10 miles while on I-5 and another 10 on I-405, for a total of 20 miles. The wiki page here says that 73 is 15 miles long, but I'm not sure that is accurate. If you look at the Exit List postmiles it's approx 17.5 miles long. This seems more correct to me based on my personal experience driving this route almost every weekend. So, the miles saved are somewhere around 2 to 5. Not too much really, but most days the time savings is what you are going after. You might even be using more gas due to three fairly longm somewhat steep, inclines. --Brian1078 16:15, 26 January 2007 (UTC)