Indiana House Approves $3.85 Bln. Toll-Road Privatization Plan

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he Indiana House approved legislation Wednesday giving Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) authority to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a Spanish-Australian consortium for 75 years in exchange for $3.85 billion to be invested in road projects around the state.

The measure next moves to the Senate, where state Sen. and President Pro Tempore Robert Garton said it is likely to pass.

If approved, it would be the “biggest privatization of the U.S. highway system yet,” said Michael Belzer, chairman of the Transportation Research Board’s task force on trucking industry research.

The measure also would give Daniels the authority to use public-private agreements to build new roads in the state and to impose tolls on those roads, including the extension of Interstate 69 between Indianapolis and Evansville, Ind.

Last month, the Indiana Toll Road District said it would increase toll rates on the 157-mile toll road that carries Interstates 94 and 80 across the northern part of the state.

Tolls for heavy trucks will be phased in over four years. Once the first hike is implemented, trucks will pay a toll of $18, up from $14.55. Next year, that amount will go up to $22.50, then to $27.25 in 2008 and $32 in 2009.

The agency said the increases will not take affect until after March.