The Indiana Department of Transportation confirmed Monday the state agency submitted a request last year for federal approval to toll Interstate 70 across Indiana after Republican Gov. Mike Braun expressed interest in highway tolling. INDOT has not yet received a response from the Federal Highway Administration. John J. Watkins, file, The Times
The administration of Republican Gov. Mike Braun officially is seeking federal approval to charge tolls to motorists traveling Interstate 70 across Indiana.
Aaron Wainscott, Indiana Department of Transportation legislative director, told the House Roads and Transportation Committee Monday that INDOT submitted a request for federal approval to toll I-70 in September after Braun expressed interest in highway tolling.
"We've received good feedback from federal highway (officials) but we don't have a timeline for approval," Wainscott said.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly last year endorsed House Enrolled Act 1461 (2025) that eliminated a protection for Northwest Indiana motorists in existing law that required the first new toll lanes in the state be located at least 75 miles away from the Indiana Toll Road — potentially opening the door to tolls on Interstate 80/94 and Interstate 65.
Wainscott explained, however, that INDOT only is looking at tolling I-70 for now, and state Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, the committee chairman, insisted that any additional interstate tolling would require separate approval from the federal government and only a very limited number of federal toll authorizations are available.
"I can't imagine us submitting another request until we find out what happens with the first request. It's not like a blanket waiver to toll any interstate. So what you've read in the media about we're tolling every interstate in the state is absolutely a falsity. It's submitted for I-70," Pressel said.
INDOT's 2018 tolling strategy outlines four possible toll rates ranging from 4 cents to 7 cents per mile for passenger vehicles and higher rates for trucks and other vehicles with more than two axles. Though any actual toll rates likely will much higher to account for inflation since the plan was completed eight years ago.
At the highest proposed rates, a passenger vehicle would pay $10.50 in tolls to travel one-way between Terre Haute and Richmond on I-70, while semi-trailers would be charged $57 for the 150-mile trip.
GOP lawmakers are promoting tolling as a means to supplement funding for state and local road construction projects currently generated by Indiana's 36 cents per gallon gasoline tax and the state's 7% sales tax on gasoline purchases.
They claim Indiana needs additional revenue to meet its long-term infrastructure needs due to the negative impact of more fuel-efficient vehicles on the state's double tax on gasoline.
Indeed, Wainscott and Pressel said more than 300 significant INDOT projects have been canceled or postponed due to funding constraints in recent years.
Though Pressel also questioned why INDOT is continuing to move forward with the planned 2027 construction of the $1.08 billion Mid-States Corridor in southern Indiana that would link Interstate 64 to Interstate 69 through Braun's hometown of Jasper when funding to maintain Indiana's existing roads and finish ongoing projects already is considered insufficient.
In Northwest Indiana, INDOT is set to begin work this spring on the Interstate 80/94 FlexRoad project that will use dynamic shoulders, variable speed limits, ramp metering, lane control, other technologies between the Illinois state line and Interstate 65 to expand the capacity of the Borman Expressway at peak travel times without constructing additional traffic lanes.
"FlexRoad represents a data-driven approach to improving safety, reliability and congestion management on one of Indiana's most critical interstate corridors without requiring full, traditional widening," Wainscott said.
FlexRoad construction, funded in part by a $127 million federal grant, is set to run through 2028.
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