Ohio Turnpike Tolls to Rise Jan. 1

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Tolls on the Ohio Turnpike will increase as scheduled Jan. 1, despite suggestions by one turnpike official last winter that the extra money may not be needed.

To travel on the turnpike from Toldeo to Youngstown, for example, trucks will pay $13.25, up $1.10 from current rates and a $6 increase from 1995.

In February, Ohio Turnpike Commission Chairwoman Ruth Ann Leever had said the commission was looking for ways to avoid the increase.

Executive Director Alan Plain said the extra money will help pay for a $1.2 billion modernization program, which includes widening 160 miles of the road to three lanes, replacing 16 service plazas and renovating interchanges.

Truckers say the price increase has forced traffic off the turnpike and onto secondary roads.

"I use the turnpike as little as possible," Wayne Harrington, a trucker from Longview, Texas, said. He said the upcoming increase will make him more resolved to avoid the turnpike.

Turnpike officials say overall traffic is up 6.2% this year after declining for several years. Truck and other commercial traffic increased 3.3%, they said. Toll revenue is up 12.9% for the year through September.

A public hearing about the newest increase is set for Nov. 16 in Middleburg Heights, a Cleveland suburb.

"We plan to be there," said Tom King, executive vice president of the Ohio Trucking Assn., a critic of the increases. "I'm not sure what effect we can have, but we will make our comments known."

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