Many drivers on Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway will not have to pay tolls for their Thursday morning trips. Here's what happened.

Many drivers on Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway will not have to pay tolls for their Thursday morning trips.

The Virginia Department of Transportation’s sign systems were down for several hours from early Thursday morning until about 8:15 a.m., which prevented the state from showing the toll rates for solo drivers from 5:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.

Since VDOT signs were blank, VDOT is waiving all tolls during the period where drivers entered the road without knowing what they would be charged. It’s unclear how many drivers went through during this time and were impacted.

The systems crash also impacted certain other internal VDOT systems.

The tolling algorithm remained operational, so it is possible to identify what the posted toll would have been. At 7:45 a.m., a trip by a solo driver from the Beltway to D.C. would have cost $34.75. At 8:10 a.m., it was $36.

I-66 inside the Beltway is free during the restricted hours in the rush hour direction to drivers with at least one other person in the car and an E-ZPass Flex flipped to HOV mode.

HOV or toll rules apply to all traffic eastbound from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and westbound from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.