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Last updated on Monday, June 16, 2014
(MUNSTER) — The cost of driving on the Indiana Toll Road is going up an average of 2.67 percent on July 1 for those without E-ZPass transponders.
Driving a car the full length of the toll road will be $10, up from the current $9.70. The toll for a typical five-axle semitrailer going the 157-mile length of the highway will be $39.70, up from its current $38.70.
Rates for drivers with transponders will remain unchanged through 2016. The annual increases are stipulated in ITR Concession Co.'s 2006 lease agreement for the Toll Road, when its parent companies paid the state of Indiana $3.8 billion for the right to operate the road and collect tolls for 75 years.
The ITR Concession Co. can raise tolls each July 1 by either 2 percent or more if the increase in the consumer price index or the increase in U.S. gross domestic product is higher. This year's increase is based on the increase in the GDP.
ITR Concession Co. spokeswoman Amber Kettring told The Times of Munster the agreement protects users by limiting the increases.
"There's no surprises; users know it's going to be this way each year," she said.
Toll revenues are used for the operation and maintenance of the Indiana Toll Road, Kettring said. ITR Concession has several major construction projects underway, including the complete reconstruction of two Lake Station ramps between the Toll Road and Borman Expressway.
Tolls had not been raised on the Indiana Toll Road for more than 20 years when the state boosted the tolls in early 2006, just before the lease with ITR Concession went into effect.
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