Indiana Toll Road
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Image:Indiana Toll Road logo 1968.png The Indiana Toll Road, officially the Indiana East-West Toll Road, is a tolled expressway running east-west across the northernmost part of Indiana; the furthest it gets from the Michigan state line or Lake Michigan is about 10 miles (15 km). It is owned and operated by the Indiana Department of Transportation, which also maintains Indiana's free state highways. The Toll Road has been advertised as the Main Street of the Midwest, as it forms a major link, connecting Chicago and the West with Ohio and the Northeast.
The Toll Road forms part of a longer continuous pre-Interstate Highway System toll road from Chicago to New Jersey. At its west end, the Chicago Skyway continues northwest towards downtown Chicago. To the east, the Ohio Turnpike continues through Ohio towards the Pennsylvania Turnpike and New Jersey Turnpike. The full length of the Toll Road is designated as part of the cross-country Interstate 90. Interstate 80 is concurrently routed on the Toll Road east of the interchange at Burns Harbor (exit 21); it leaves to bypass Chicago to the south.
Between the Westpoint barrier toll, near the Illinois state line, and the Portage barrier, tolls are collected by fixed-amount tolls as exit and entrance ramps. The rest of the Toll Road, from Portage to the Eastpoint barrier, near the Ohio state line, is operated as a ticket system toll road, where one receives a ticket upon entering and pays a pre-calculated amount based on distance traveled when exiting. Standard passenger cars are charged a toll of $4.15 along the section from Portage to Eastpoint, with an extra $0.50 at the Westpoint barrier.
Control cities on guide signs are Chicago, Illinois and Toledo, Ohio.
History
The Toll Road was privately financed and constructed during the 1950s. It opened in stages, east to west, between August and November, 1956[1], with user tolls paying for its capital costs and maintenance. A "north-south" toll road was planned in addition to the ultimately-built east-west one, roughly along the path of today's Interstate 65, but the plan was dropped after the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was passed.[2] The Indiana Toll Road Commission ran it until 1981, when it was transferred to the Indiana Department of Transportation.
In 2005, a plan was introduced to privatize the Toll Road. [3] On January 23 2006, it was announced that a partnership between Cintras Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA and Macquarie Infrastructure Group was the top bidder for a 75-year lease to operate and maintain the toll road, offering US $3.85 billion for the concession.[4] The same partnership already operates and maintains the adjoining Chicago Skyway in Illinois.
Exit list
| Number | Mile | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old | ||||
| 0.0 | state line; becomes the Chicago Skyway | |||
| 0 | 0 | U.S. Route 12/U.S. Route 20/U.S. Route 41 - Indianapolis Boulevard | westbound exit and eastbound entrance; other ramps are on the Chicago Skyway | |
| 1 | Westpoint barrier toll | |||
| 3 | State Route 912 - Cline Avenue | eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 5 | 1 | 4.7 | U.S. Route 41 - Calumet Avenue/Hammond | former Westpoint barrier toll |
| 10 | State Route 912 - Cline Avenue/Gary | |||
| 14A | 2 | 13.5 | Grant Street | was once exit 13 |
| 14B | State Route 53 - Broadway | was once exit 15 | ||
| 17 | 3 | 16.7 | Interstate 65/U.S. Route 12/U.S. Route 20 - Indianapolis/Dunes Highway | |
| 21 | 4 | 20.8 | Interstate 80 west to Interstate 94/U.S. Route 6/State Route 51 - Detroit, Michigan/Lake Station/Des Moines, Iowa | I-80 joins eastbound and leaves westbound |
| 23 | Portage - Willowcreek Road | |||
| 24 | Portage barrier toll | |||
| 31 | 5 | 30.9 | State Route 49 - Chesterton/Valparaiso | |
| 39 | 6 | 38.9 | U.S. Route 421 - Michigan City/Westville | |
| 49 | 7 | 49.2 | State Route 39 - La Porte | |
| 72 | U.S. Route 31 Bypass - Niles, Michigan/South Bend/Plymouth | |||
| 77 | 8 | 76.6 | State Route 933/U.S. Route 31 Business - South Bend/Notre Dame | |
| 83 | Mishawaka | |||
| 92 | 9 | 91.8 | State Route 19 - Elkhart | |
| 96 | County Road 17 | |||
| 101 | State Route 15 - Bristol/Goshen | |||
| 107 | 10 | 107.1 | State Route 13/U.S. Route 131 - Constantine, Michigan/Middlebury | |
| 121 | 11 | 120.5 | State Route 9 - Howe/LaGrange Also Sturgis, Michigan | |
| 144 | 12 | 143.9 | Interstate 69 - Angola/Fort Wayne/Lansing, Michigan | |
| 153 | 13 | 153.0 | Eastpoint barrier toll | |
| 156.9 | state line; becomes the Ohio Turnpike | |||
External links
- Indiana Toll Road for Sale - Special collection compiled by The Times of Northwest Indiana (Munster), the South Bend Tribune, and the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.