http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080331/in_toll_road_rates.html?.v=1
Indiana Toll Road Rates Set to Rise
Monday March 31, 5:28 pm ET
Indiana Motorists Paying Cash Can Expect to See Toll Road Rates Rise
HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) -- Motorists who pay cash to drive on the Indiana
Toll Road will see their rates increase starting Tuesday.
The highway's private operator is authorized under its contract with
the state to increase tolls as it starts operating an electronic toll
transponder system on the full length of the 157-mile highway.
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The toll for the full length of the toll road will rise to $8 from the
current $4.65 for car drivers paying cash. Drivers who use a
transponder won't see a toll hike until 2016.
All drivers of vehicles with three axles or more automatically will
pay toll increases, regardless of whether they use the electronic
tolling system known as I-Zoom.
"The spirit of the toll freeze is for local users," said Matt Pierce,
a spokesman for the Indiana Toll Road Concession Co., the highway
operator. "This is the first time tolls are going to increase for a
two-axle vehicle since 1985, and those individuals continuing to pay
with their electronic transponder are going to pay that 1985 rate of
$4.65 for the next eight years."
The provision for increasing the toll rate was included in the 2006
deal Gov. Mitch Daniels' administration agree to a 75-year lease of
the toll road to a consortium of Spanish company Cintra and
Australia's Macquarie Infrastructure Group. The consortium, which
formed ITR Concession, has paid the state $3.8 billion and will
collect all the highway's toll revenue over the term of the lease.
Toll booths on a 23-mile section of the highway from ****tage to the
Illinois state line have had electronic tolling for about a year.
During peak times on that stretch, 60 percent of drivers use the
electronic transponders.
"Northwest Indiana was pretty covered, so where we're picking up our
new I-Zoom users is in places like South Bend and Elkhart," Pierce
said. "We've seen about 10,000 of those folks come on line with the
electronic tolling, and we expect to have 20,000 to 30,000 before the
end of 2008."
Indiana drivers who frequently use the toll road will be able to keep
the lower rates for eight more years, Daniels said.
"It means out-of-state traffic, most of it out-of-state trucks and
commercial, is paying to build Indiana's future," he said.
John Hennessy of Crown Point, who has worked in downtown Chicago for
25 years, said he'll probably break down and get the I-Zoom to avoid
the new rates -- especially since his daughter knows how to go online
and order one.
Toll rates also will go up for trucks, with the charge for six-axle
vehicles driving the full highway going from $26.50 to $32 and seven-
axle vehicles rising from $49.25 to $59.60.
Kenneth Cragen, president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association, said
the industry has felt the effects of a slumping economy.
"It's a tough time for us, because the freight market is soft right
now and, of course, fuel prices are skyrocketing," Cragen said. "So,
it's a tough situation for trucks on the toll road."
The truckers association sup****ted the lease, citing the improvements
that would be made to the state's infrastructure. Cragen said truckers
will welcome the I-Zoom system.
"There's a convenience and savings, too," he said. "That's an
im****tant technical improvement for us, because it saves time and
fuel."
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