Indiana leaders say they’re not making the same errors as other state applicants for a federal tolling program that has produced no toll roads in its nearly 30 years of existence.
The state released its bid to toll Interstate 70 this month after a public records request by the Capital Chronicle. The east-west route would be widened to six lanes, border to border.
“So the mistake other states made … They got the tolling waiver first and then got weak-kneed in the Legislature,” Indiana Gov. Mike Braun told reporters after an unrelated event on Wednesday. “… We did it in the right order.”
U.S. law generally bans user fees on the federally funded Interstate Highway System — with exceptions. Indiana’s application, submitted in September, seeks a waiver under the Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program.
Since the pilot’s launch in 1998, “several” states have earned provisional approvals, reserving one of three slots, per the Federal Highway Administration’s 2018 solicitation for applications.
“To date, however, no State has fully satisfied the … program criteria,” the document reads.
Three states — Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia — held provisional approvals in 2015, when the program was amended. All have since relinquished their slots, according to the FHWA.
Braun emphasized that Indiana’s participation, even if approved, isn’t a sure thing.
“And so it’s clear: tolling is only going to be considered if it makes sense,” he said.
Braun leaned supportive.
“If you’re one that wants to get rid of potholes on 70 and add lanes three across the state, it’s not going to happen with our current road funding,” he said. “Some would say, ‘Well, find it in the budget.’ … But then you’re talking about trade-offs on everything else.”
The prospect has prompted opposition from a wide variety of Hoosiers.
Looking local
The I-70 lane-widening initiative is “20 years behind,” in Democratic Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun’s perspective. The interstate runs along the city’s southern border.
“By failing to address I-70, the state has held back West Central Indiana in terms of economic development,” he wrote in remarks to the Capital Chronicle. “Can tolling fix that quickly? Yes. But I’m confused how several other highway projects are being done that don’t require tolls. Why us?”
Several interstate segments are listed on the Indiana Department of Transportation’s “major projects” webpage, including pieces of I-70.
The interstate’s 156 miles in Indiana were completed in 1969. INDOT has since reconstructed 37 miles, widening those sections to six lanes or more, according to the waiver application. Another seven miles are currently under construction.
Reconstructing and widening the remaining 112 miles is expected to cost about $5.4 billion in 2025 dollars — or $6.5 billion with inflation and bonding costs 2028-2035. INDOT has argued using existing revenue alone isn’t “realistic” because the agency would either have to postpone all other projects for three years, or spend 89 years completing the I-70 project mile by mile.
The application proposes a rate of 10 cents per mile for passenger vehicles, or $15.60 to drive from Illinois to Ohio, and 54 cents per mile for large trucks, or $84.24 for a border-to-border drive. Those without transponders would owe more.
“That’s double taxation, and that should not be allowed in the state of Indiana,” said Mike Delph, a former Republican state senator who is running to reclaim his seat.
He was a strong supporter of the 2006 privatization of the northern Indiana Toll Road — which delivered $3.8 billion to the state — but a foe of the 2021 push to toll Interstate 465 in central Indiana.
The state’s taxes on fuel are the differentiator for him, because the revenue funds public roads.
“We are using the gas tax to fund this highway system, and now we’re coming back and saying (that) we want to do tolling on top of that?” Delph said.
Drivers who wish to use non-tolled options would retain access to Indiana’s “extensive” roadway network, INDOT’s application notes. U.S. 40 runs parallel to the entire corridor, for instance.
But that in itself is a point of fiscal concern for the agency and locals.
“If toll rates are too low, revenue would be low and the tolling program could be financially unsustainable,” INDOT’s 2018 tolling plan reads. “If toll rates are too high, traffic diversion could be high and non-tolled alternate routes could be adversely affected.”
Diversion is when drivers pick other roadways to avoid paying tolls.
Sakbun expects both the tolls and construction beforehand to increase local traffic — and wear.
“Our residents will be stuck dealing with local roads deteriorating at a quicker rate and who is going to foot that bill? Diversions for traffic or a toll cost real dollars,” he wrote. “The city’s paving budget would quickly have to be rerouted to the diversion routes.” Sakbun “want(s) to know the plan” for state reimbursement of local toll impact expenses.
Who’s paying
Indiana officials have long maintained that out-of-staters who drive across the state without filling up on gas aren’t contributing to the maintenance of the roads they’re wearing down.
But Hoosiers would pay the bulk of the tolls, according to forecasts for 2045 published in the 2018 tolling plan — the most recent state numbers available. INDOT is planning detailed, updated traffic and revenue analyses if the waiver is approved, according to the application.
For passenger cars, Indiana residents would provide an estimated 82% of the revenue compared to 18% for out-of-staters, under two INDOT toll rate scenarios. For commercial vehicles, in-state truckers would pay almost 60% as opposed to the approximately 40% paid by non-Hoosiers.
Gary Langston, president and CEO of the Indiana Motor Truck Association, said the difference is “not even logical.”
He acknowledged trucks’ heavy weights damage roads exponentially more, but argued carriers already pay their fair share — largely through the International Fuel Tax Agreement.
Interstate carriers have to “square up with every state based on where they drove their miles and where they bought their fuel” on a quarterly basis, Langston explained.
That’s not to say the state’s goals aren’t appreciated.
Nearly 600 surveyed truckers from across the country overwhelmingly voted I-70 in Indiana as the nation’s worst road in a 2025 highway report card from trucking magazine Overdrive — with poor pavement condition and inadequate maintenance topping the list of complaints.
Congestion is another problem. INDOT, in a 2023 freight plan, estimated that significant portions of I-70 had unreliable truck travel times and would be truck bottlenecks by 2045.
Widening the route for additional capacity is a “great idea,” said Langston.
“I always look forward to crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky and traveling on those three beautiful lanes, in both directions, all the way to Tennessee — which they have miraculously, somehow figured out how to do without any tolls,” he said pointedly.
Tolling was one potential funding mechanism INDOT identified to make up for declining revenue, in a 2024 study. Others included more hikes to fuel taxes and registration fees, a parcel delivery fee, a state infrastructure bank and more. The agency also suggested dedicating a chunk of the sales tax, personal income tax, corporate income tax and so on to transportation.
Langston is a fan of the sales tax idea, noting it would cost little to implement and ensure everyone who benefits from roadways — even non-drivers — are paying into the system.
But the state has, for years, operated on a “user pays” system.
“Infrastructure is the one thing that we’ve always financed through user fees, so that you don’t tax the general public if they don’t drive a car or they don’t go on this road,” Braun said.
If the waiver is granted provisional approval, Indiana will have three years to submit a finalized application, complete the federal environmental review and permitting process and execute a toll agreement, according to FHWA.
“This is to make sure we’re prepared, if in fact there’s an appetite to go forward with it, and the details of what that would mean in terms of freeing up money for other road projects,” Braun said.
INDOT spokeswoman Cassy Bajek said there are no updates on the application’s status.
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
