Indiana resolves tollway dispute with Illinois

By Mike Smith

INDIANAPOLIS – Illinois drivers who have electronic passes entitling them to discounts on their tollways will get the same reduced rates that Indiana drivers with transponders will receive on the Indiana Toll Road when electronic tolling starts.

A resolution endorsed by the Indiana Toll Road Oversight Board on Thursday should end a dispute between the two states involving the discounts.

Gov. Mitch Daniels said it was right and fair that Indiana “reciprocate with a gesture of friendship and neighborliness.”

Currently, Indiana drivers with Illinois I-Pass transponders that electronically deduct tolls from preset accounts get the same 50 percent discount that Illinois drivers with an I-Pass receive on that state’s tollways. Those using Indiana’s new I-Zoom transponder also were to get the same discount.

But officials with the Indiana Toll Road initially said they would not offer I-Pass customers the same 40 percent discount that cars and motorcycles with I-Zoom transponders will get on the northern Indiana tollway.

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ITR Concession Co., a private firm that has a 75-year lease to operate the tollway, said electronic tolling should be available along all 157 miles of the highway by late this year.

Because of the Indiana Toll Road’s initial stand not to offer the discount for I-Pass users, the Illinois Tollway Authority approved terminating the accounts of 90,000 Indiana residents who use its I-Pass responders if the dispute could not be resolved.

ITR and Indiana officials had offered a compromise last month in which only drivers using I-Zoom would automatically receive a 40 percent discount on the Indiana Toll Road. Motorists using Illinois’ I-Pass and E-ZPass would have been required to sign up on a Web site.

Illinois officials rejected that, saying I-Pass users should not have to jump through any hoops.

Under the resolution approved by the Indiana board, I-Pass customers would get the same 40-percent discount as Indiana’s I-Zoom drivers once the electronic tolling it operational. Similarly, I-Zoom customers would get the same 50-percent discounts when using Illinois’ tollway system.

The discounts in Indiana will apply to passenger cars, pickup trucks and motorcycles using the transponder system. Indiana drivers with an I-Pass transponder will not have to get a new I-Zoom to get the Indiana discounts.

When the lease agreement was signed, the Indiana Finance Authority set aside $250 million out of a $3.8 billion lease payment to compensate ITR Concession Co. for the discount provided over the next 10 years. The amount is sufficient to cover the cost of the benefit, according to the Indiana Department of Transportation.

Thursday’s resolution would make it unnecessary for motorists traveling on tollways in either state to get two different transponders and eliminate double billing, Daniels said in a letter to the Toll Road Oversight Board.

“Offering discounts for the use of electronic tolling transponders is sound public policy, as it encourages adoption of a technology that will help ease congestion and increase efficiencies in operating the toll road,” Daniels said.

Illinois officials commended Indiana for removing barriers to equal treatment of Illinois I-Pass customers, and the Illinois Tollway said it would work with Indiana in the coming weeks to solidify the agreement.

“The Illinois Tollway has never drawn a line between its residents and drivers who live in Indiana and travel in Illinois for daily commutes or leisure trips,” Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a statement.