More than 20,000 people emailed the Virginia Department of Transportation about a proposal to charge a monthly $1 fee for E-ZPass accounts as of Tuesday, the last day to submit comments.

The agency says it needs the fee to meet the expected demand for the devices once the new Beltway Express lanes and other toll facilities open this year. VDOT expects it will need about 420,000 new E-ZPass transponders by March 2013 — almost double the agency’s current 560,000 accounts.

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