Our younger selves feared stories about trolls who lurked under bridges waiting for unsuspecting travelers to cross. The greasy beasts would emerge from the shadows and demand poor souls to pay the troll’s toll. If not, the creatures forbid them to cross and carry on with their travels.
As we grew older, this make-belief tale was dismissed as childhood buffoonery. Trolls became better known as internet anarchists, not as fairytale creatures. However, we are here to break the news to you.
Trolls do exist. Welcome to the world of America’s road tolls. Truckers may want to avert their eyes.
Road tolls are a grueling expense for trucking
Tolls draw the ire of any long-haul trucker. Even court cases have been waged by the industry in certain instances.
Tolls quickly add expense and time for cross-country haulers. In the case of owner-operators, they can see upwards of $2000 a year out their own pockets for toll charges alone.
Tolls vary from state to state and are typically found in high-population and traffic-prone areas.
Here are the top five most expensive toll roads in the U.S. (by cost per mile):
- Chesapeake Expressway (Virginia): $1.05
- 17-Mile Drive (California): 54.4 cents
- Ford Bend Parkway (Texas): 53.3 cents
- Chicago Skyway (Illinois): 51.2 cents
- Delaware Turnpike: 36 cents
Diesel prices may be falling, but trucking’s wallet will still ache if these tolls have any say on the matter.
Tolls are like taxes—inevitable
Why don’t truckers just avoid tolled roadways?
Fleets may be able to navigate around certain tolled roadways, but at the end of the day it’s sort of a lose-lose scenario. Taking alternative routes to bypass tolled stretches may end up costing more in the long run for carriers or truckers when accounting for fuel.
But, let’s say a fleet optimizes its routing to avoid select tolls. While its shipping lane may not align with the specific roads above, the tolls will still find a way to magically appear.
While the roadways above pickpocket the most ka-ching for a single passage, this other metric is just as horrifying to consider. The following are the top five states with the most toll road mileage:
- Florida: 657 miles
- Oklahoma: 597 miles
- New York: 575 miles
- Pennsylvania: 508 miles
- Ohio: 392 miles
Considering the expanse of milage above, it’s hard to imagine any workaround for fleets, at least in these states, to carry on through toll-free.
Final Thoughts
To be fair, not all of the country participates in this form of highway robbery. This includes Minnesota, the home of our experts at Commerce Express Inc.
Please contact us if you’d like more information on this topic or just someone to talk to about your toll-paying experiences. Look, we’re not therapists—just logistics pros—but we’re here if you need to vent.
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