Toll Rates Climb on Three Indiana-Kentucky Bridges
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Tolling rates rose recently on three bridges connecting Louisville, Ky., and southern Indiana as part of an annual adjustment determined by a bistate resolution that went into effect in 2013.
RiverLink, which operates the tolling lanes, hiked toll rates as of July 1 to raise revenue to offset expenditures for bridge operations and maintenance on the jointly run Kentucky and Indiana bridges. The new rates will last through June 30, 2025.
The spans are the Interstate 65 Abraham Lincoln Bridge, I-65 Kennedy Bridge and I-265/Kentucky Route 841 Lewis and Clark Bridge over the Ohio River in the Louisville metro area.
Rates vary from $2.61 for passenger cars to $15.61 for trucks with at least five axles, depending on vehicle size and whether drivers have prepaid accounts.
“Drivers in passenger vehicles with transponders and prepaid accounts in good standing save 50% ($2.61) per crossing. The easiest way to maintain a positive account balance is by choosing auto-replenishment and linking the account to a valid payment method,” RiverLink announced.
Drivers of commercial vehicles also save when using a prepaid account and transponder. New tolls vary significantly by the form of payment used:
- 4-axle vehicles: $6.52 with a prepaid account and transponder, $7.81 for a prepaid account and $9.11 to pay by mail/license plate
- 5-axle vehicles or more: $13 with a prepaid account and transponder, $14.29 for a prepaid account and $15.61 to pay by mail/license plate
Under the bistate resolution, toll rates are increased each year by 2.5% unless the inflation measured by the consumer price index is higher. RiverLink noted that this year’s higher CPI caused tolls to increase by 3.4%.
The trio of tolled bridges had a total of 34 million crossings in 2022, about 5% more than the previous year, according to the latest RiverLink figures released in 2023.
Trucks with at least five axles accounted for 13% of all traffic on the three bridges in 2022 and consisted of 4.5 million crossings, of which 82% used transponders to pay for the tolls.
Toll revenue is divided evenly between Indiana and Kentucky and used as funding for bridge needs.
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