What States Take the Pennsylvania E-ZPass?

The Pennsylvania E-ZPass allows you to pay tolls on roads, bridges and tunnels without having to stop or dig through your pockets for cash or coins. It's a radio-frequency transponder you attach to your vehicle; when you pass a toll-collection point, the toll is automatically charged to your account. The E-ZPass you buy in Pennsylvania is accepted by toll agencies in more than a dozen states, from northern Illinois to New England.

You can use the E-ZPass you purchase in Pennsylvania to pay tolls for highways, bridges and tunnels in 13 states in addition to Pennsylvania. Those states are Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia.

It's not really states that accept E-ZPass, but rather the departments, agencies and contractors that maintain and manage highways and crossings. In Pennsylvania, for example, you can use E-ZPass on all roads overseen by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, plus bridges operated by the Delaware River Port Authority and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Authority, and cooperative ventures between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which lie on opposite sides of the Delaware River. If a toll facility is operated by an agency that doesn't participate in E-ZPass -- for example, a ferry or a city-owned toll bridge -- then your transponder won't work there, even if you're in an "E-ZPass state."

Besides the three in Pennsylvania already mentioned, 21 agencies accept the E-ZPass you buy in Pennsylvania. Those agencies are the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority in New York state; the Burlington County Bridge Commission in New Jersey; the Delaware Department of Transportation; the Delaware River and Bay Authority, which is a joint effort of Delaware and New Jersey; the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority; the Indiana Toll Road Concession Co.; the Maine Turnpike Authority; the Maryland Transportation Authority; the Massachusetts Department of Transportation; MTA Bridges and Tunnels, which operates crossings in New York City; the New Hampshire Bureau of Turnpikes; the New Jersey Turnpike Authority; the New York State Bridge Authority; the New York State Thruway Authority; the Ohio Turnpike Commission; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; the Skyway Concession Co., which operates the Chicago Skyway; the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority; the South Jersey Transportation Authority; the Virginia Department of Transportation; and the West Virginia Parkways Authority.

Pennsylvania offers two kinds of E-ZPass accounts: personal and commercial. Both types work in all E-ZPass states. The state warns recreational vehicle owners that if an RV has a gross vehicle weight of more than 15,000 pounds, they must open a commercial E-ZPass account.