The question has come up many times in the past years, should we designate some of our expressways as Toll Roads. And the answer has always been let's think about that tomorrow. Well, things have changed!
Fox17 followed up on a story from WXYZ in Detroit that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill that would allow the Michigan Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of tolls on several highways in the state. The bill is Senate Bill 517, introduced by Republican Sen. John Bizon of Battle Creek.

Most folks have thought that since Michigan is a peninsula, most of the drivers on the roads probably live here. That would penalize us residents, plus, possibly discourage us from vacationing in our own state.

But, there is very heavy commercial traffic and tourism through the state as we all can see, and several of our key expressways run not only through Michigan but are pathways from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. So now MDOT will take a look at possible tolls on I-94, I-75, US 127, and I-96.

We're well aware that one of the Grand Rapids areas major highways, I-96, runs from metro Detroit all the way through Grand Rapids to Muskegon.

I-94 runs from Port Huron near the Blue Water Bridge from Canada all the way through New Buffalo and into Chicago.

I-75 runs from the Michigan-Ohio border in Monroe County through the Upper Peninsula into Sault Ste. Marie.

And, US-127 picks up at the Michigan-Ohio border in the middle part of the state and runs north through Jackson, Lansing, and Mt. Pleasant before meeting up with I-75.

The study will also look to see which drivers--local or out of state--would be coughing up the most money in tolls.

 

The last time a study was done looking into the possibility of toll roads here in Michigan was 12 years ago. So, I guess it is a case of "here we go again!"

 

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