OH, IN bad railroadin’ = good tolling

At the risk of upsetting intermodal comity, let’s not mince words: when the railroads mess up the turnpikes thrive. Truck traffic on the Ohio Turnpike in 1999 went over the average 25k/day, an increase of 7.4% over 1998 (vs 2.4% up for passenger cars). Truck-miles traveled were up 8.4% and tolls from trucks (60% of the total) were $105m, up 15% from $92m in 1998 (a toll increase occurred part way through that year.) All this in the middle of work on one of the biggest widening projects under way in the country - 258km (160mi) of third laning. The economy might account for half of the increase in truck traffic but officials say the other half is probably generated by mode shift - from rail - by dissatisfied rail customers.

The Indiana Toll Road next door had a similar if less spectacular result in its 1999-fiscal year result (which lags Ohio’s by six months.) Truck traffic was up 3.2% to 26k veh/day (vs passenger veh 1.0% up) with truck tolls up 4.7% to $49m. The Indiana pike had reduced traffic at its western end in the industrial suburbs of the greater Chicago area where it operates a set of 7 mainline barrier plazas. In its ticket system part, which covers 14 interchanges in the more rural part, it saw an increase in overall traffic of 3%.