BY PATRICK GUINANE, Times of Northwest Indiana
pguinane@nwitimes.com
INDIANAPOLIS | Willing to pay a little more to quicken your daily commute?
The Indiana Toll Road soon might have something for you.
Prefer to cruise the roadway in the predawn hours?
You might be able to save a little scratch.
The same could be true for the environmentally conscious owners of gas/electric hybrid vehicles and motorists who let corn- or soybean-based biofuels propel them along the 157-mile toll road.
Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels is asking the General Assembly to give him sweeping authority to impose an extensive menu of toll rates.
Daniels has presented lawmakers with legislation that would allow him to increase or decrease tolls for a number of reasons. Chief among them are financial considerations, which could mean a special lane for commuters willing to pay more.
The state also could use higher rates to encourage casual motorists to clear the toll road during commuter rush hours
Reducing congestion, promoting fuel conservation and enhancing public safety are among the rationales built into House Bill 1008. The legislation's main purpose is to authorize public-private transportation partnerships, including a long-term toll road lease and plans to build a toll extension of Interstate 69 that would connect Evansville with Indianapolis.
Bids for the toll road lease are due Friday. They are expected to exceed $2 billion, which would fund most of the new construction in Major Moves, the governor's 10-year $10.6 billion transportation plan.
The House Ways and Means Committee will begin debating the public-private partnership legislation on Tuesday. The measure also would allow electronic tolling, such as the I-Pass system used in Illinois or EZ Pass, which is popular among East Coast states.
Chuck Shalliol, the governor's budget director, said the varied pricing options would give a private toll road operator the tools it needs to best run the toll road.
"It's things like differential rating; it's using the I-Pass combination with different pricing; it's adjusting to the customer's needs," Shalliol said.
"It's a whole series of things they do as professionals. You know, it's like you go to do laser eye surgery, do you go to the guy who's only done one, or do you go to the guy who does it every day? These guys do it every day, and they know what they can do."
Electronic tolling would allow the state to get rid of stop-and-go toll booths.
Discounted tolls could be used to encourage travelers to buy the electronic transponders.
Shalliol said any contract the state inks with a private toll road operator will stipulate how much they can increase rates over time.
"So, in one sense, people can take comfort in the fact that this will spell out the maximum amounts they'll ever be charged for any of this," he said.
Shalliol argues the new system will give commuters greater price protection, because current law allows state government to increase tolls at any time. But, despite that, tolls have not been increased since 1985.
At the same time, current law states that tolls be uniform by distance. The legislation Daniels is pushing would drop that requirement, meaning that much higher tolls could await motorists at popular interchanges.
For those worried about high rates, Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom Sharp argues market forces offer protection.
"We all know that in business, volume is a big key, " he said. "You can price yourself out of a market and go bankrupt."