Northwestern Indiana politicians vie for higher toll road fee monies

Northwest Indiana officials want to make sure hundreds of millions of dollars in Indiana Toll Road revenues from proposed toll increases and a possible toll road lease stay in northern Indiana.

"I support the governor's initiative," said Lake County Council President Will Smith Jr. D-Gary. "I just hope the funding part of it will help us in Northwest Indiana with our property taxpayers."

Directing a portion of toll road revenue to local road improvements and maintenance could take some of the burden off local taxpayers, Smith said.

At any rate, the council president said he believes the long-time practice of keeping toll road funds in northern Indiana should continue.

Gov. Daniels' Major Moves for Indiana transportation initiative, which would hike toll road fees, also includes plans to share $100 million of those funds with local communities in the form of direct grants for transportation projects.

A program that shared toll road revenues with local communities in the form of grants and loans for transportation projects was ended in 1997.

In all, the proposed toll increase would raise $770 million, according to the Daniels administration. Leasing the toll road to a private company could raise up to $2 billion more.

Valparaiso councilman-at-large Chuck Williams thinks some sort of toll increase is in order if some portion can be dedicated to local street and roadway projects.

But something will have to be done to give local commuters a break, he said.

In Illinois, tolls were doubled for all users except those with I-PASS transponders. Williams thinks a similar set-up here would snag revenue from out-of-state users while protecting Northwest Indiana residents who commute to Chicago for their jobs.

"The fact is, for someone driving from Illinois to Michigan for the weekend, the toll doesn't matter, they will pay it," Williams said.

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) is also hearing concerns about Major Moves implications for the toll road and northern Indiana, according to executive director John Swanson. NIRPC has a governing board consisting of 51 local elected officials.

He said local officials seem more concerned about the implications of a toll road lease than the proposed toll increase. Such infrastructure leases generally have long terms, up to 99 years in some cases.

"If the toll road is leased, they want to know will the operator be responsive to making improvements to the road system that would promote economic development in Northwest Indiana," Swanson said.

Toll road interchanges are one example of the kinds of projects where local officials still want input, according to Swanson.

There seems to be broad agreement something has to be done to increase toll road revenues, Swanson said. Tolls have not been increased since 1985. Indiana's tolls lag significantly behind those of neighboring states, including Illinois, where tolls are more twice as high.