Indiana Toll Road Owner Files for Chapter 11

[SEWIGuy]

I think they should up the tolls on it.  The Ohio Turnpike cost me $9.50 each way from Westgate to OH-44 (southeast of Cleveland.)  The ITR cost me $4.18 each way from the eastern line to the Borman. 

[nwi_navigator_1181]

Unless there's a change in plans that hasn't been publicized, the ETC discount will end effective January 1, meaning that all drivers will pay the same rate. Depending on how many drivers will stay away from the Toll Road when it happens, that may not be a big bump in revenue.

[rawmustard]

Unless there's a change in plans that hasn't been publicized, the ETC discount will end effective January 1, meaning that all drivers will pay the same rate. Depending on how many drivers will stay away from the Toll Road when it happens, that may not be a big bump in revenue.

I think that's just the 1985 rates which will no longer be locked in; nothing I've read has stated that ETC would have to equal the cash rate.

LGLS990

[nwi_navigator_1181]

Unless there's a change in plans that hasn't been publicized, the ETC discount will end effective January 1, meaning that all drivers will pay the same rate. Depending on how many drivers will stay away from the Toll Road when it happens, that may not be a big bump in revenue.

I think that's just the 1985 rates which will no longer be locked in; nothing I've read has stated that ETC would have to equal the cash rate.

LGLS990

Thanks for the clarification. So that means that the ETC rate will potentially increase but will potentially still be less than the cash rate?

[SEWIGuy]

But who is going to stay away from the ITR if the route ups a couple bucks per trip?  What alternatives are there?  US-6 and US-20 are too slow and US-30 is too far south.  If Ohio can get away with higher rates, why can't Indiana?

[seicer]

I really enjoy taking US 20 through Ohio sometimes, not to shunpike, but to see something different (the turnpike is incredibly boring). It becomes hard to shunpike when you are in Indiana. But the amount of enforcement on US 20 in Ohio is crazy - and for good reason. Every trip I make west, I see at least 5 to 10 police and they aren't out there for the cars - but for the trucks. It's pretty routine to see trucks try and shunpike, only to be pulled over for anything from speeding (it's 60 MPH for the most part) to having double trailers (come on).

[codyg1985]

But who is going to stay away from the ITR if the route ups a couple bucks per trip?  What alternatives are there?  US-6 and US-20 are too slow and US-30 is too far south.  If Ohio can get away with higher rates, why can't Indiana?

I-94 to US 23 is also an option, but it is quite far north.

[theline]

I-94 can also be a nightmare due to traffic and weather.

[US 41]

I agree that the Indiana Toll Road should up their charges.

As a shunpiker here is how I would personally go if I was traveling the Gary/Hammond area to Toledo. I would go east on I-94 to Michigan City. From Michigan City I would take US 20 east. I would continue straight on IN 2 to South Bend where I would get on the South Bend / Elkhart bypass (US 20). I would take US 20 all the way to Toledo. In the end it would save me around $14. At $2 per gallon and 32 mpg that is 224 miles of extra money for gas I would have.

When I drove from Joplin to OKC I took US 60 and OK 66 and saved $8. But then again I am the person that only spent $320 on a week long 4000 mile trip that included Arizona and Mexico last month. 

[SEWIGuy]

As a shunpiker here is how I would personally go if I was traveling the Gary/Hammond area to Toledo. I would go east on I-94 to Michigan City. From Michigan City I would take US 20 east. I would continue straight on IN 2 to South Bend where I would get on the South Bend / Elkhart bypass (US 20). I would take US 20 all the way to Toledo. In the end it would save me around $14. At $2 per gallon and 32 mpg that is 224 miles of extra money for gas I would have.

What would be the approximate time difference? 

[Joe The Dragon]

I agree that the Indiana Toll Road should up their charges.

As a shunpiker here is how I would personally go if I was traveling the Gary/Hammond area to Toledo. I would go east on I-94 to Michigan City. From Michigan City I would take US 20 east. I would continue straight on IN 2 to South Bend where I would get on the South Bend / Elkhart bypass (US 20). I would take US 20 all the way to Toledo. In the end it would save me around $14. At $2 per gallon and 32 mpg that is 224 miles of extra money for gas I would have.

When I drove from Joplin to OKC I took US 60 and OK 66 and saved $8. But then again I am the person that only spent $320 on a week long 4000 mile trip that included Arizona and Mexico last month. 

Indiana Toll Road need gate free toll lanes and a plan to get High speed tolling on the main line + the sky way.

[US 41]

As a shunpiker here is how I would personally go if I was traveling the Gary/Hammond area to Toledo. I would go east on I-94 to Michigan City. From Michigan City I would take US 20 east. I would continue straight on IN 2 to South Bend where I would get on the South Bend / Elkhart bypass (US 20). I would take US 20 all the way to Toledo. In the end it would save me around $14. At $2 per gallon and 32 mpg that is 224 miles of extra money for gas I would have.

What would be the approximate time difference?

Gary - Toledo

I-80/90 (toll road)
Miles= 217
Time= 3 hrs 16 min
Gas= $15 (30 mpg @ $2 per gal)
Tolls= $14
Total= $29

I-94 / US 20 (free option)
Miles= 208
Time= 3 hrs 56 min
Gas= $14
Tolls= $0
Total= $14

*Gas prices and tolls are rounded up to the next dollar amount. (Ex: $13.42 = $14)

So it only takes 40 minutes longer to take US 20, but it is 9 miles shorter and saves you around $15. Lately $15 has been filling up my gas tank.

[SEWIGuy]

Thank you.  I will have to try that someday.  I never realized the odd routing of IN-2 and US-20 from Michigan City to South Bend until this topic!

[JREwing78]

I-94 can also be a nightmare due to traffic and weather.

I've taken recently to using the ITR and I-69 instead of I-94 for precisely these reasons. Unless it's late at night, I-94 is a stressful drive. I-80/90, at least once you're past Valparaiso, is a much calmer drive.

Pavement quality and speed enforcement are on par with I-94, and travel time and distance are similar. The toll costs are considerably cheaper than the Illinois toll roads I have to traverse to get around Chicago in a timely manner.

[westerninterloper]

Resurrecting a long-dormant thread to complain at the ITR...I travel it several times a year, and the exit toll machines look like they have been refurbished from the NY Subway system...in the 1970s. They hardly work, give you change in dollar coins, and the credit card readers are CRAP. I sat behind a semi near Angola for nearly 10 minutes while the drives swiped and swiped and swiped his credit card to try to get through. It wouldnt read my card, so I had to deposit a $20 for a $7 toll and got a huge handful of change. Other lanes were similarly backed up. Indiana sure does loving to do things on the CHEAP. It's an embarrassment.

[hbelkins]

Resurrecting a long-dormant thread to complain at the ITR...I travel it several times a year, and the exit toll machines look like they have been refurbished from the NY Subway system...in the 1970s. They hardly work, give you change in dollar coins, and the credit card readers are CRAP. I sat behind a semi near Angola for nearly 10 minutes while the drives swiped and swiped and swiped his credit card to try to get through. It wouldnt read my card, so I had to deposit a $20 for a $7 toll and got a huge handful of change. Other lanes were similarly backed up. Indiana sure does loving to do things on the CHEAP. It's an embarrassment.

But you gotta love all those unneeded improvements to US 31!

[machias]

The ITR is in such horrid shape I sometimes wonder if I'm going to end up with a bent rim every time I drive back east. It's a horrible road; terrible toll management, awful road conditions, and subpar service areas.

[NWI_Irish96]

Resurrecting a long-dormant thread to complain at the ITR...I travel it several times a year, and the exit toll machines look like they have been refurbished from the NY Subway system...in the 1970s. They hardly work, give you change in dollar coins, and the credit card readers are CRAP. I sat behind a semi near Angola for nearly 10 minutes while the drives swiped and swiped and swiped his credit card to try to get through. It wouldnt read my card, so I had to deposit a $20 for a $7 toll and got a huge handful of change. Other lanes were similarly backed up. Indiana sure does loving to do things on the CHEAP. It's an embarrassment.

But you gotta love all those unneeded improvements to US 31!

US 31 South Bend-Indy is pretty heavily traveled and removing most of the stoplights has greatly reduced travel times and increased safety.  I-65 has gotten/is getting expanded to 6 lanes in a lot of places, which also improved travel times and safety.  Maybe the old toll units are by design to encourage people to get EZ Pass.

[westerninterloper]

The ITR is in such horrid shape I sometimes wonder if I'm going to end up with a bent rim every time I drive back east. It's a horrible road; terrible toll management, awful road conditions, and subpar service areas.

Agreed...the new rest areas are cramped, the traffic patterns aren't intuitive or well-signed, and the quality of the road is terrible. I'm happy US 31 was upgraded between SB and Indy - but the state should have bitten a bullet and just raised the money instead of relinquishing responsibility for the ITR and passing the buck, passing the buck, passing the buck.

[Revive 755]

Maybe the old toll units are by design to encourage people to get EZ Pass.

Except the Indiana Toll Road offers a cheaper or equal cash rate than transponder for some plazas.  For example, I'm seeing the toll being $9 for both cash and transponder from Portage to the Eastpoint Toll Plaza.  If they wanted to encourage EZ Pass use, the transponder rate should always be cheaper.

[ilpt4u]

Maybe the old toll units are by design to encourage people to get EZ Pass.

Except the Indiana Toll Road offers a cheaper or equal cash rate than transponder for some plazas.  For example, I'm seeing the toll being $9 for both cash and transponder from Portage to the Eastpoint Toll Plaza.  If they wanted to encourage EZ Pass use, the transponder rate should always be cheaper.

Doesn't the ITR charge a 3 cent "foreign"  transponder fee if your EZ Pass is not ITR issued? Which effectively makes the EZ Pass toll higher than the cash toll (even if only by a few pennies)? Or has ITR quit that silliness?

Now that I live in Southern IL I don't have much travel utility on the ITR, but last time I did use it I had those silly Toll + 3 cent charges on my I-Pass account

[oscar]

Doesn't the ITR charge a 3 cent "foreign"  transponder fee if your EZ Pass is not ITR issued? Which effectively makes the EZ Pass toll higher than the cash toll (even if only by a few pennies)? Or has ITR quit that silliness?

I recall the ITR used to offer "I-Zoom"-branded E-Z Passes. Didn't see those posters when I drove the road earlier this month. What, if any, flavor of E-Z Pass is the ITR now issuing?

[ilpt4u]

Doesn't the ITR charge a 3 cent "foreign"  transponder fee if your EZ Pass is not ITR issued? Which effectively makes the EZ Pass toll higher than the cash toll (even if only by a few pennies)? Or has ITR quit that silliness?

I recall the ITR used to offer "I-Zoom"-branded E-Z Passes. Didn't see those posters when I drove the road earlier this month. What, if any, flavor of E-Z Pass is the ITR now issuing?

They dropped the I-Zoom brand a few years back, and use the generic EZ-Pass branding now for their transponder. I assume the toll booths either just say say EZ Pass now or maybe EZ Pass and I-Pass?

[Nacho]

Doesn't the ITR charge a 3 cent "foreign"  transponder fee if your EZ Pass is not ITR issued? Which effectively makes the EZ Pass toll higher than the cash toll (even if only by a few pennies)? Or has ITR quit that silliness?

I recall the ITR used to offer "I-Zoom"-branded E-Z Passes. Didn't see those posters when I drove the road earlier this month. What, if any, flavor of E-Z Pass is the ITR now issuing?

I'm pretty sure it's just branded E-Z Pass now, based on what I've seen of signage and such, but I don't have one myself (or rather I have an I-Pass).

Regarding the travel plazas what I really find disappointing is that only half of them have dining now. Between that and not reopening the Fremont plazas the Toll Road has gone from having five places to stop and eat in each direction to just two. It certainly made sense to replace the old ones, but the new ones don't compare well to, say, the ones on the Ohio Turnpike.

They dropped the I-Zoom brand a few years back, and use the generic EZ-Pass branding now for their transponder. I assume the toll booths either just say say EZ Pass now or maybe EZ Pass and I-Pass?

Most of the signage just says E-Z Pass. Some of the signs as you're approaching the toll booths also have a small I-Pass logo kinda awkwardly off to one side as they originally had three logos (I-Zoom, E-Z Pass, I-Pass) and they just pasted a large E-Z Pass logo over the I-Zoom and covered up the old smaller E-Z Pass logo. The whole thing looks kinda sloppily thrown together, which is honestly pretty appropriate for the ITR.

[NWI_Irish96]

The ITR is in such horrid shape I sometimes wonder if I'm going to end up with a bent rim every time I drive back east. It's a horrible road; terrible toll management, awful road conditions, and subpar service areas.

Agreed...the new rest areas are cramped, the traffic patterns aren't intuitive or well-signed, and the quality of the road is terrible. I'm happy US 31 was upgraded between SB and Indy - but the state should have bitten a bullet and just raised the money instead of relinquishing responsibility for the ITR and passing the buck, passing the buck, passing the buck.

Most IN residents would prefer to have the money invested in 31 and other roads rather than the Toll Road, which is mostly used by out of staters and people from a handful of counties in northern IN.