12/20/05-Gov. Mitch Daniels is looking for private investors to take over the Indiana Toll Road.
In the meantime, plans are to go ahead and hike tolls along the 157-mile route by as much as 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.”
To pay for the plan, the state is preparing for offers by several private firms to lease the toll road for 75 years, Daniels said. Bids for the lease are due by Jan. 20.
“There’s a good chance that again, we’ll be offered money that we could not generate in this state without doubling the gas tax, or doing something equally unthinkable,” the Republican governor told WISE-TV in Fort Wayne.
The lease amount – estimated at more than $2 billion – would help the state to cover a gap of $2.8 billion needed for road and bridge work throughout the state for the next decade as well as possibly pay for an extension of Interstate 69 from Indianapolis to Evansville.
In return for taking over operation and maintenance of the toll road, a private group would keep the revenue from tolls.
Any leasing plans would require approval from the Indiana General Assembly. With that in mind, Rep. Randy Borror, R-Fort Wayne, will be carrying the governor’s plan.
Sen. Marvin Riegsecker, R-Goshen, said leasing the toll road would be a tough sell to lawmakers.
Daniels’ office plans to increase Toll Road fees on its own beginning this spring.
The governor said toll rates have not increased since 1985 and no longer meet maintenance needs.
Increases on the 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.
The toll increases would generate an estimated $770 million in 10 years.