Kansas Turnpike Tolls to Increase for Those Without Transponders
This story appears in the Sept. 14 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Tolls for cars and trucks on the Kansas Turnpike are set to increase — starting Oct. 1 — for drivers paying in cash, but not for vehicles using an electronic toll transponder.
If a vehicle has a K-Tag, whether the vehicle is registered in Kansas or another state, it will be allowed to run the turnpike at the same toll rates now in effect.
A K-Tag is the electronic toll transponder that allows vehicles to go through the relevant turnpike toll booths without stopping.
On the other hand, drivers who pay cash on the turnpike will see tolls rise approximately 15% if the vehicle is a car and about 5% if it’s a truck.
For example, the cost for a 5-axle truck to run the entire 236 miles of the turnpike currently is $28.25. After Oct. 1, the cost for a truck without a K-Tag would be $30.
Likewise, the cost for a 9-axle tractor-trailer rig to run the turnpike is now $69.25 but without a K-Tag, that truck would have to pay $73.
This is the first time since 2007 the turnpike authority has changed the toll structure.
The trucking industry did not object to the toll changes, said Thomas Whitaker, executive director of the Kansas Motor Carriers Association.
“Our tolls are some of the most reasonable in the United States,” Whitaker said.
The change in the toll structure, he said, is designed to get more people to use the electronic toll devices to shift costs away from booths staffed by toll-takers and onto a less expensive electronic system.
A K-Tag costs $15 to buy outright, or drivers can set up accounts for which they agree to pay a fee of $1 a month and keep a positive monthly balance.
When the balance gets low, it automatically is replenished via the driver’s credit cards.
The turnpike was opened in 1956 and runs from the northeastern corner of the state outside Kansas City southwest through Topeka and Wichita to the Arkansas border.
