Question of the night: avoiding the "Indiana Toll Road?"

[TJ]

We're headed for Nappanee and are overnighting in Sioux Falls, SD, tonight. In looking at the map for the remainder of the trip, I see the "Indiana Toll Road" section on I-90. We're schedule to hit that on Saturday.

A quick web search shows that the tolls on that section can be pretty substantial. Is there a decent highway that we could use from where the Indiana Toll Road begins to Nappanee that would avoid the toll section? We'll be overnighting in union, IL, prior to the last leg of the trip from there to Nappanee.

How about I-94 down to Indiana 6 and over to Nappanee. Would that work? Any other thoughts?

TJ

[grindstone01]

Take 94 toward Mich and get off on IN 2 and then turns into US 20 toward South Bend, IN, then 19 South. Nice road and is 2 and 4 lane with no tolls and only a few traffic lights.

We will be heading to the Shipshewana weekly Tue/Wed flea market in a month and take that route every year with our rig coming from the West. Just watch for horse buggies in that part of the country.

Also US 6 is a decent 2 lane road to take.


At last look, tolls were about a $.33/mile and I-80 is a rough road to travel. Wise to stay off. Toll for 4 axle is $22 for 60 miles.

https://turnpikeinfo.com/toll-calcul...&state=indiana

[NealC]

A MADP owner avoiding tolls. [emoji849]

[Dutch Star Don]

If towing a toad.....you're considered a semi truck and trailer to the toll booth. In a 9 mile drive in Maryland, we paid $56.00 and at the next toll, our friends warned the lady I would go off if hit with another high toll. She smiled and said she would only charge me $20. So in 9 miles I paid $76 dollars in tolls, that was a half tank of fuel.

[RJ51]

I don't mind paying the tolls in Indiana it's just I can't believe I have to pay to ride that rough lousy road. I would like to know what they do with the toll money.

[Milom]

X2 on last post
We recently returned from our east coast bucket list trip and I was Gobsmacked that Indiana toll both charged me $67.40 for our 40' moho +toad for a short distance on the hwy. I noticed the toll for cars was $8.00, but being 4 axels and over height we were charged same as a semi! I wouldn't mind so much if they had silky smooth roads but the hwy was in terrible shape. what do they do with all that money? They certainly arn't spending much on hwy improvement I will never complain about I-5 or 99 in California again. At least those pot holes are free

[guardrail53]

I would also take I-94 to exit 40, take route 2 east towards South Bend, take the 20/31 bypass to the south/east, stay on 31 south, till you get to route 6 east, and take that to Nappanee! All 4 lane till you get on Rt. 6! Rail!

[NealC]

The cost of diesel may exceed the cost of toll for trying to route around toll. Don’t sweat it peeps. I’m heading to Cape Charles VA soon and have to cross a bridge/tunnel that has a toll at one stop I think it’s $40 for the one toll hit. It’s just a part of the entrance fee for that destination.

[lostinfla]

Originally Posted by RJ51

I don't mind paying the tolls in Indiana it's just I can't believe I have to pay to ride that rough lousy road. I would like to know what they do with the toll money.

They give it in bonuses to the staff they hired to keep track of the toll road monies.

[Sky soldier]

I just returned from a trip to Elkhart, IN, last week. The Indiana toll road is terrible. I stopped at a service center to check if the rig was still in one piece. I don't mind the cost of the toll but the quality of the road is a concern.

[FLJOE]

Kind of late to this party, but last year we had the pleasure of banging down part of the Indiana Toll road and I won't be back anytime soon. It wasn't so much the cost it was the bad pavement.

Leaving Union IL, you will almost have to use part of the TriState (I-294) and then I-94 in Illinois, so you will be contributing to Illinois Toll Authority also. I believe the TriState is still under a lot of construction. It is posted as 55, crowded, and everyone drives 85.

By the way, let me know about your stay in Union Illinois.

[grindstone01]

Originally Posted by NealC

The cost of diesel may exceed the cost of toll for trying to route around toll. Don’t sweat it peeps. I’m heading to Cape Charles VA soon and have to cross a bridge/tunnel that has a toll at one stop I think it’s $40 for the one toll hit. It’s just a part of the entrance fee for that destination.

Actually if you get 10MPG, then the toll cost equals the fuel cost per mile. So you can drive twice the distance in IN. to avoid tolls and still break even.
IN. sold the toll rights to a off shore company a decade ago and they then went bankrupt without fixing I-80. A subsidary of that company has now taken over and is so far not doing any better. This was endorsed by our current VP (then Gov off IN.) to privatize the toll road system with plans to go nation wide.

https://www.southbendtribune.com/new...e7c9103fa.html

A bridge toll is very different, as there is usually no alternative. A toll road in IN. is easy to get around.

[lostinfla]

Unless it's downhill all the way, I won't see 10 MPG

[Woo10-210]

Separate the toad and have the dw drive it. 2 axles from the state line to Middlebury/Shipshewana is $8.