Toll, Transponders & the Good of 540!

I know many many people are not too happy about the fact that we have a toll road right in the heart of where we live, especially since the toll is only applicable to the new section. 540 will serve as a well needed corridor to Apex & Holly Springs from the RTP/Durham area. I can only imagine the time it is saving several of those residents to what seems to be the mecca for our employment base. I know several of my clients have tweeted that the time savings is worth the toll expense they are paying, although I know it is costing most from Apex lunch out for the day. I live in Raleigh but do quite a bit of sales on the 540 side of Cary/Morrisville/Apex etc. I had NO idea how much I used 540 until I received my first bill. OUCH! That prompted me immediately to go ahead & purchase the sticker transponder. It was a fairly painless process, I created an account from the bill I received, put in my credit card info & a few days later the stickers arrived. You have to have one per car and I believe they will allow 5 cars on one account. Now I will not have to worry about bills in the mail as it will auto debit from the initial balance you have to put on ($20) & I will get an email statement once a month. As much as I don’t like to pay a toll as the next guy, getting to Apex was so easy last night after picking up my sister from the airport. Not to mention 40E was backed up because of a car fire and the normal rush hour traffic. If I had to take the traditional way it would have easily taken me 40+ minutes, taking 540 took us less than 20 minutes with no lights & no hassle!!! The NC Quick Pass saved me about $1 for just that trip…I say the $5 investment is worth it. I am definitely interested to see once the next section is open how much traffic is alleviated off of 40E bound! I hope it really makes a HUGE difference.