News broke early this week after media covering the state of Indiana revealed results of a public-records request: Indiana Governor Mike Braun's release of an application for federal approval of a plan to toll I-70 in Indiana.
The application posits a possible 54-cents/mile toll for large trucks along the 156-mile entirety of I-70 in Indiana, insult to injury for owner-operators in a time like the present, with fuel costs skyrocketing.
Before this week, the state's application to toll the road hadn't made news in the roughly six months since its filing in September, weeks prior to Overdrive's October release of the Truckers' 2025 Highway Report Card that named I-70 in Indiana the absolute worst stretch of haul route in the nation.
- Indiana's application asserts the state's Department of Transportation "cannot reconstruct I-70 without toll revenue," and plans an Illinois-to-Ohio, full border-to-border tolling scheme.
- In addition to the 54 cents/mile cost for large trucks, the plan envisions open-road-type tolling, with rates for passenger vehicles pegged at 10 cents/mile.
- Without added toll revenue, the state application projected a negative $109 million shortfall in needs across the entire state, part of a 2024 revenue study its Department of Transportation conducted.
- Approval/implementation of the state's plan would see toll collections begin as early as 2029.
- Download the state's I-70 tolling application to the Federal Highway Administration's Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program (ISRRPP) at this link.
Notably, the notion of tolls on I-70 was not a topic of conversation during Overdrive's August/September reporting leading into the Highway Report Card release, which also saw readers earmark the state DOT overall as No. 1 worst in the nation for road upkeep.
[Related: Like a 'bronco buster at a rodeo': Truckers' experience on American roadways today]
Reached for comment, InDOT Public Relations Director Cassy Bajek confirmed the application to the federal tolling pilot program, dated Sept. 8. Bajek said that InDOT hasn't "received a response from FHWA regarding that waiver," referring to the waiver request itself for answers to any questions about possible future I-70 toll plans.
The official Indiana application to FHWA followed fast on the heels of the state legislature in prior months granting the governor the authority to request the waiver to toll an existing interstate without legislative approval. Asked why InDOT didn't disclose the existence of the application in its likewise Sept. 8-dated responses to Overdrive queries around I-70 and the Highway Report Card, Bajek noted DOT was aware of the toll waiver request at the time, yet "it was just not a public facing application."
To date, "we still don’t have approval from FHWA," Bajek added.
An FHWA spokesperson noted that the federal agency is "in ongoing discussion with the Indiana DOT regarding its application."
As noted in prior reporting, a prohibition in federal code prevents states from imposing tolls on federal-aid highways. Yet special FHWA programs allow tolling to generate revenue to support highway construction activities and/or enable the use of road pricing for congestion management, such as what's happened on I-77 lanes in and around Charlotte, N.C.
Generally, very few applications to toll existing interstates have been approved under the FHWA's special programs, and just three have ever been available under the ISRRPP, established decades ago now.
Three are available today, FHWA noted, and the agency would not comment on the application's likelihood of success.
The tolling plan submitted by the state notes InDOT's long-range plan for I-70 is to widen its entire 156 miles to six lanes by 2045, adding to current projects under way in its Revive I-70 three-phase project.
In addition to the 54 cents/mile toll rate envisioned for large trucks, the plan adds that the "eventual toll rate structure will also include rates for medium trucks," as yet unspecified. Financial analyses included by the state "applied the passenger vehicle rate to medium trucks. This is a conservative assumption."
There's at least some chance the toll hit could get higher should the waiver be approved. The state DOT noted toll-rate adjustments would be "part of a subsequent, more detailed traffic and revenue analysis." Such an analysis presumably would be necessary should the plan be approved and come to fruition.
For more opinion and insight on the nation's highway and parking infrastructure, download the "Truckers' Highway Report Card" below, ranking states based on Overdrive readers' response to a 2025 survey.
