OOIDA Call to Action - Indiana Members
January 3, 2006

Attention: Indiana truckers! As you may already know, Gov. Mitch Daniels plans to increase tolls on the Indiana Toll Road this spring. Your state lawmakers and local news media need to be made aware of the effect a toll hike would have on your business.

The governor's plan calls for increasing fees on the toll route by 120 percent for large trucks and 72 percent for cars. The state also will look into how to keep truckers off alternate routes.

The initiatives are part of the governor's 10-year, $10.6 billion statewide construction plan dubbed "Major Moves."

Daniels' plan also could lead to tolls being used to extend Interstate 69 from Indianapolis to Evansville and leasing the route - along with the Indiana Toll Road - to a private group, which would keep the toll money in exchange for operating and maintaining the roadways.

Increases on the Indiana Toll Road would vary by distance driven. The toll for tractor-trailers traveling from the Illinois line to Ohio would increase from $14.55 to $32. Passenger vehicle rates for driving the same distance would rise from $4.65 to $8.

"Indiana truckers should be involved in the discussion to make sure their views are fairly considered," said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. "This can be done most effectively by contacting lawmakers and local news media.

"Both should know that the higher the tolls climb, the more traffic - both truck and car - will move off the toll road to other less safe routes to avoid the tolls.

"Highway safety continues to improve all across America because more vehicles use the safest highways. That trend should be encouraged, not discouraged with unreasonably high tolls.

"Specific to truckers: at 27 cents per gallon, Indiana collects one of the nation's highest fuel taxes on diesel to maintain state highways. Truckers should not be asked to pay both high taxes and a high toll for their operations on the Indiana Toll Road. At a minimum, truckers should be allowed to deduct toll road miles from their quarterly fuel tax payments.

"To more than double the amount of tolls assessed on trucks in one fell swoop is unreasonable. If such an increase is ultimately deemed necessary, it should be phased in over at least a three-year period."

Contact your state representative and senator and let them know what effect higher tolls are likely to have on you as an Indiana trucker. Also, write your concerns about tolls down on paper and deliver them to your local newspaper and ask that they run them on the opinion page. It will educate media, the general public and lawmakers.

For your lawmakers' contact information, visit www.in.gov/apps/sos/legislator/search/list.jsp on the Internet. You can also call OOIDA's Membership Department at 1-800-444-5791 and they'll look it up.

A list of Indiana newspaper and TV station Web sites are available at www.usnpl.com/innews.php.