Every interstate highway in Indiana potentially could become a toll road under legislation green-lighted Thursday by the Republican-controlled House.
House Bill 1461, sponsored by LaPorte County state Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, was approved 72-21 and next goes to the Senate.
Pressel downplayed the significance of the tolling component of his road funding plan by pointing out a 2017 state law already allows the governor to seek federal approval to toll interstate highways passing through the "Crossroads of America."
He said his proposal merely gives the governor "additional flexibility" on tolling by deleting a statutory requirement that the first tolled interstate be located at least 75 miles away from an existing tollway or toll bridge, such as the Indiana Toll Road spanning northern Indiana.
Attempts by state Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster, to exclude from tolling Interstate 80/94 in Lake and Porter counties, or to eliminate the tolling language altogether, were unsuccessful, due in part to bipartisan support for another provision in the measure allocating up to $50 million in extra road funding for Indianapolis.
The potential for interstate highway tolling in Indiana is more viable than in the past because new Republican Gov. Mike Braun has not indicated whether he intends to seek federal approval for tolling, despite repeated inquiries to his office.
As a member of the House, Braun voted in 2017 to authorize the governor to seek federal approval for tolling. However, Republican former Gov. Eric Holcomb categorically refused to do so, prompting state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, the sponsor of House Enrolled Act 1002 (2017) to say of Holcomb: "Maybe he needs a successor sooner rather than later."
According to the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency, tolling Indiana's interstate highways, depending on where the tolls are placed and how the money is collected, could generate $4.2 billion for road and bridge projects in the first five years, and up to $38.2 billion through 2050.
Tolling is the only major new revenue source in Pressel's road funding legislation. It also encourages more counties and municipalities to adopt a wheel tax to qualify for local road funding grants and requires townships to use a portion of their excess reserves for road construction projects.
In comparison, the 2017 law hiked Indiana's gasoline tax to now 35 cents a gallon from 18 cents, continued the 7% sales tax on gasoline purchases even though most other states don't double tax gas, raised vehicle registration fees for all motorists, established new fees for hybrid and electric vehicles, and opened the door to tolling.
Though it's not clear how open the tolling door currently is on the federal side after Republican President Donald Trump and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered a halt Wednesday to New York's congestion pricing program in Manhattan.
Duffy said he considers it a "slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners" for New York City motorists to have to pay a toll to travel on existing roads.
"You can't take American taxpayers who paid for roads and block them out and say you can't access this unless you pay additional money," Duffy said. "I think that's flat-out wrong."
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