Scheduled rate increase coming to Ohio toll roads

Truckers will be paying a little more to travel on the Ohio Turnpike in 2025.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, commercial vehicles equipped with an E-ZPass will see rates increase from 20.4 cents per mile to 22 cents per mile. For customers paying by cash or credit card, the toll will jump from 25.6 cents per mile in 2024 to 27.6 cents per mile in 2025.

The rate hike is part of a scheduled increase approved by the Ohio Turnpike Commission in April 2023. The upcoming rise in cost marks the second step of an incremental increase in fees that will continue through 2028. When all is said and done, Class 5 E-ZPass users will be tolled at .238 cents per mile, with cash and credit customers paying nearly .3 cents per mile.

According to Ohio Turnpike Commission Executive Director Ferzan Ahmed, the scheduled toll increases are “intended to create a responsible and stable financial plan to cover operating costs, debt service and capital improvements.”

Ahmed noted that the commission relies primarily on toll revenue to maintain the infrastructure of the turnpike, along with other projects. One of those projects was the commission’s recent overhaul of its toll collection system.

In April, the commission launched a new “modernized” system that introduced open-road tolling lanes for E-ZPass users. The project included the removal of entry and exit gates at 20 toll plazas across the state – replacing them with lanes equipped with “new electronic tolling components, including sensors and other equipment to read E-ZPass transponders and to classify vehicles by the number of axles and vehicle height.”

The overhaul of the system – which began in 2019 – carried a cost of nearly $250 million and was funded exclusively through revenue generated by tolls. Turnpike officials said the nearly five-year project was completed within the planned budget.

“Despite the rising costs of highway construction and bridge projects, the Ohio Turnpike’s toll rates still rank among of the lowest in the country,” Ahmed said.

A complete list of the commission’s approved schedule through 2028 can be found here. LL