It's about to get more expensive to use the Toll Road
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- This week the Indiana Finance Authority approved a resolution that will allow the Indiana Toll Road Concession Company (ITRCC) to increase toll road prices by one-and-a-half percent, twice a year.
Previously, the ITRCC could raise prices by only two percent annually, or once a year, so the new resolution means there is now a total allowable price increase of three percent per year.
In return, the Indiana Finance Authority will receive annual payments of $700 million dollars, which is meant to lessen the tax burden for Indiana drivers.
The ITRCC itself is a subsidiary of IFM Investors, a global fund management company who purchased the company out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015. The company has a 75-year lease agreement for the Indiana Toll Road, which was negotiated by former Governor Mitch Daniels in 2006. According to the agreement, the company is responsible for the running and upkeep of the toll road.
Currently, however, some drivers say that we are not seeing the results that we should.
"I feel like it would be one thing if I can see the fruits of the labor on the toll, it seems like they're usually doing construction on various segments, and the rest of I-80 too, they seem like they like to tear up vast portions of it at one time and then don't complete anything in timely fashion," said Joan Reeder, a mother of a Notre Dame student from Illinois.
Joan Reeder lives in central Illinois and drives the toll road often to come see her daughter, a student at Notre Dame. The price increases aren't something she's too thrilled about, but they won't stop her from visiting campus.
And Javier Julio, a Notre Dame student from Bolingbrook, Illinois told us "It makes it more expensive, considering things right now, gas is more expensive. I think to fill up a tank, it probably takes you 70 bucks, used to take around 60, 50, and then I don't normally pay attention to the toll prices, but it's on the iPass so if it's going to keep increasing, it kind of sucks knowing I'm going to have to spend more money just to go see my family."
The new toll increases will take effect on June 30 and Dec 31 every year.