24-05-2025
Ken de la Bastide column: Are more toll roads coming to Indiana?
Will Indiana interstate highways become toll roads in the near future? If so, what will be the long-term costs?
Gov. Mike Braun is considering seeking federal approval to convert the state's interstate highways into toll roads to pay for future highway maintenance costs.
That annual estimated cost to maintain state roads is up to $800 million.
Experts believe it costs $1 million to repave a road.
The Braun administration has indicated that the state's gasoline tax doesn't raise enough money to maintain the roads in the Hoosier state.
An option is to ask future members of the Indiana General Assembly to raise the gas tax or seek another funding mechanism.
Another possibility would be to raise registration fees for vehicles.
With more and more hybrid vehicles in use, should the state raise the taxes on these vehicles?
Currently only the Indiana toll road, along Interstate 80 in the northern part of the state, collects a fee for traveling from the Ohio to Illinois border.
That toll is seven cents per mile for passenger cars; trucks are charged by class with a maximum toll of $86.60 and a minimum charge of $14.60.
The distance of the remaining interstate highways in Indiana is 932 miles with Interstate 69 the longest at 342 miles.
If a request for tolls is approved by the federal government, Madison County residents could be looking at paying to travel down the interstate to Indianapolis.
Another question is, what would be the cost to convert the interstate highways into a toll road?
At every exit and entrance ramp, there would need to be infrastructure put in place to distribute tickets for motorists entering the highway and another means to collect the tolls when motorists exit the highway.
How many of these facilities would need to be built just around Interstate 465, and for the interstates passing through Indianapolis?
It would take years to implement tolls on the state's interstate network.
Or, would the state install cameras at all the exits to photograph vehicles and send bills to the owners?
That would work for Indiana motorists, but not out-of-state travelers.
Our neighboring states have few interstate highways with tolls in place.
There is the Ohio Turnpike through the northern stretch of the Buckeye State and a network of tolls around Chicago.
With Indiana known as the 'Crossroads of America,' will travelers look for alternative routes to avoid passing tolls in the state?
