What Is the Northwest Parkway LLC Charge on Your Statement?

A Northwest Parkway LLC charge on your bank or credit card statement is a toll for driving on the Northwest Parkway, a cashless private toll road in the northwest Denver metro area. There are no tollbooths. Overhead cameras photograph license plates at three points — the Mainline Plaza, the Sheridan ramp, and the U.S. 287 ramp — and the registered owner of the vehicle is billed afterward. If the charge surprises you, it almost always means a vehicle registered to you (or recently registered to you) passed through one of those points.

How the Toll Ends Up on Your Statement

The Parkway runs a “free flow” electronic tolling system. Drivers with a GO-PASS or ExpressToll transponder are billed at account rates. Everyone else is identified by license plate and billed by mail at higher non-registered rates. A two-axle vehicle pays $5.50 at the mainline point and $1.80 at the Sheridan or U.S. 287 ramps, with added fees that vary by payment method.¹

If you have a GO-PASS account, charges post to that account and appear on a monthly itemized statement. The terms let the Parkway add late fees, collection fees, mailing fees, penalties, interest, and court costs to unpaid balances.² Any dispute has to be raised within 30 days of the statement mailing date; after that, the charges are treated as accepted.³

Under Colorado law, the registered vehicle owner is liable regardless of who was driving. Selling a car without transferring the registration, lending it to a friend, or having an ex-spouse drive a jointly titled vehicle does not shift that liability.⁴

Why the Charge Might Look Wrong

Most people see an unexpected Parkway charge because they (or someone using their car) drove the road without realizing it was a toll road. With no booths or gates, it is easy to pass through unaware. But a steady share of complaints involves billing problems rather than forgotten trips.

The Better Business Bureau’s profile for Northwest Parkway LLC shows 40 complaints over the most recent three-year period, 23 of them closed in the last 12 months. The company is not BBB-accredited.⁵ The recurring patterns:

Drivers say they never got an initial invoice and only learned of the charge when a “final notice” or collection letter arrived. One BBB office previously reported averaging 50 inquiries a month from drivers asking why they were in collections.⁶
Small tolls grow quickly. One consumer reported a $5.30 toll reaching $32.90 in late fees plus $20 in delinquency fees once it went to collections. Another described fees rising by more than 900 percent.⁵
Because the system matches license plates to DMV records, plate-recognition errors or similar names can send bills to the wrong person. In one widely reported case, a woman received a $232 collection notice for tolls belonging to someone with a similar name.⁷
Some drivers report “ramp fees” plus mailing and processing fees for using public highway exits near the Parkway, saying they never merged onto the toll road itself.⁸

The company says it sends three or four invoices before transferring an account to collections. Former CEO Pedro Costa said Northwest Parkway receives about 30 complaints a month internally, a figure he called “statistically low” against roughly 1,500 to 2,500 bills mailed daily.⁷

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

Unpaid tolls follow a defined path. After the company’s billing cycle (typically four notices over four months), the account is turned over to Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson (LGBS), the Parkway’s collections firm. LGBS sends additional notices and can file suit in county court.⁴

Ignore the lawsuit and LGBS can ask the court for a default judgment. Collection notices warn that unpaid debts may lead to property liens, bank levies, or wage garnishment.⁷ Colorado law also lets toll road operators report unpaid judgments to the state Department of Revenue, which can block vehicle registration renewal until the debt is cleared.⁹

How to Dispute the Charge

Where you start depends on where the charge is in the billing cycle.

If the charge is still on a GO-PASS account and has not gone to collections, contact the GO-PASS service center at 303-926-2500 or through go-pass.com. Disputes must be raised within 30 days of the statement date.³

If the charge is already with LGBS, disputes have to be submitted in writing, either through the firm’s portal at lgbs-tolls.com/disp-rqst or by mail to Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, Toll Road Department, 11001 West 120th Avenue, Suite 215, Broomfield, CO 80021. The phone number for account verification is 866-493-9964. Supporting documents that speed review include a police report for stolen plates, a payment receipt if the toll was already paid, or a signed court order if a divorce decree assigned the vehicle to someone else.¹⁰

If a lawsuit has been filed, show up for the hearing. Not appearing lets the court enter a default judgment. If you can’t pay in full before the hearing, LGBS may negotiate a payment plan called a “Stipulation,” which has to be signed and notarized. Missing a payment under the Stipulation is treated as a breach and lets the Parkway pursue a judgment and further enforcement.⁴

Colorado statute also provides a formal path for contesting toll evasion penalties. A registered owner who receives a civil penalty assessment notice has 20 days to pay or respond. If the first notice goes unanswered, a second is sent by certified mail. A final administrative determination can be appealed to the county court where the alleged violation occurred.⁹

1
Colorado General Assembly. Northwest Parkway Public Highway Authority Presentation
2
Northwest Parkway. GO-PASS Terms of Use
3
GO-PASS. Create Account and User Agreement
4
LGBS. Northwest Parkway Toll Collections
5
Better Business Bureau. Northwest Parkway LLC Complaints
6
CBS News Colorado. Drivers on Northwest Parkway Sent to Collections Before Receiving Bill
7
CBS News Colorado. Woman Gets $232 Collection Notice From Tollway She Never Drove On
8
Better Business Bureau. Northwest Parkway LLC Complaints, Page 4
9
FindLaw. Colorado Revised Statutes § 43-3-302
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LGBS. FAQ – Northwest Parkway