Exactly as said, don't use the express lanes head for the ones that say CASH. I don't see why you won't want to use the plate pass though, its very convenient. Saves you a bunch of time and having to dig around for exact change. The fee is $2.95 plus any tolls you may encur.

http://www.mapquest.com/routeplanner Use this link to get a route without tolls if you wanna avoid them.