Tolls on Indiana-Kentucky Bridges Rise
Travelers moving between the Hoosier State and the Bluegrass State might find themselves out of a little bit more money, thanks to a joint resolution approved in 2013.
Details
As can be expected, construction and maintenance costs are increasing over time, in part both to supplies and labor. As such, the Interstate 65 Abraham Lincoln Bridge, I-65 Kennedy Bridge, and I-265/Kentucky Route 841 Lewis and Clark Bridge are getting price increases.
For the largest of vehicles with five axles or more, rates range from $13.00 to $15.61, depending on circumstances such as having a prepaid account and a transponder. In 2022, these heavy-duty vehicles made 13% of all crossings, with smaller vehicles making the lion’s share of crossings and revenue.
“Drivers in passenger vehicles with transponders and prepaid accounts in good standing save 50% ($2.61) per crossing. The easiest way to maintain a positive account balance is by choosing auto-replenishment and linking the account to a valid payment method,” RiverLink announced.
Tolls collected by Riverlink, the organization responsible for collecting tolls and fines, is split evenly between Indiana and Kentucky, with almost $800 million collected since the organization started in 2016.
Conclusion
If you are hoping to cross through without paying a fine, you are likely going to have to take a major detour: the only nearby bridge that is without a fine is the Clark Memorial Bridge in Kentucky, which, due to its architecture, heavy-duty trucks are prohibited from using.
Our advice to you is to set up accounts and relevant transponders for all of your trucks for their various routes, so as to minimize the cost of travel on the various journeys. There may come a time when all of the toll bridge systems form a coalition to make payment easier like what happens with the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), but until that happens it is going to take a decent amount of paperwork to stay on top of tolls and fines if a savvy fleet wants to save some money. Still, it is better than the alternative of having the infrastructure slowly but surely deteriorate, as what is commonly seen to happen with free bridges across the nation that are in dire need of repairs.
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