- As of January 1, 2023, the U.S. had 6,759 miles of tolled road, bridge, and tunnel in operation, 95.6% of it part of the National Highway System.
- 39 states have at least one toll facility; 11 states have none at all (Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming).
- Toll road mileage grew 13% on the Interstate System and 20% off it between 2013 and 2023, tolling is expanding, not shrinking.
- The most expensive crossings in the country charge $16 for a car and over $130 for the largest trucks in a single crossing, at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey's Hudson River bridges and tunnels.
01 Introduction
The Federal Highway Administration tracks every toll bridge, tunnel, road, and ferry in the country biennially, including the actual rate charged, in a report called Toll Facilities in the United States. This article is built entirely on that report's most recent edition, covering facilities in operation as of January 1, 2023.
Federal Highway Administration, Office of Highway Policy Information, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023 edition.02 How Much of the Road Network Is Tolled
As of January 1, 2023, the United States had 6,759.40 miles of toll road, toll bridge, and toll tunnel in operation, 2,374.15 rural miles and 4,385.25 urban miles. The overwhelming majority, 6,461.82 miles (95.6%), sits on the National Highway System, the network of interstates and other principal routes that carries most long-distance and commercial traffic.
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, "Fact Sheet: Total Toll Road, Toll Bridge, and Toll Tunnel Length in Operation as of January 1, 2023."| Category | Miles | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Rural | 2,374.15 | 35.1% |
| Urban | 4,385.25 | 64.9% |
| Total | 6,759.40 | 100% |
| of which, National Highway System | 6,461.82 | 95.6% |
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Use the Calculator03 Which States Have Toll Roads, and Which Don't
Toll facilities are not evenly distributed. Reviewing every facility listed in FHWA's report, 39 states have at least one toll road, bridge, tunnel, or ferry, concentrated heavily in the Northeast, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and California. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also have toll facilities.
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, Table T-1, Parts 1–5 (every toll bridge, tunnel, road, and ferry listed by state).11 states have no toll facilities of any kind as of this report: Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
04 Toll Mileage Has Been Growing
Tolling in America is expanding, not shrinking. FHWA's own trend data shows toll road mileage increasing steadily on both the Interstate System and elsewhere between 2013 and 2023.
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, "Toll Mileage Trends, 2011 to 2023."| Year | Interstate (mi) | Non-Interstate (mi) |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 3,298.99 | 2,134.84 |
| 2015 | 3,295.77 | 2,259.86 |
| 2017 | 3,370.55 | 2,291.77 |
| 2020 | 3,581.98 | 2,425.69 |
| 2023 | 3,724.62 | 2,563.89 |
Toll bridge and tunnel mileage grew more modestly over the same decade, from 113.74 to 130.77 miles on the Interstate System (+15.0%) and from 198.57 to 206.58 miles off it (+4.0%).
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, toll bridge & tunnel mileage trend chart. Percentages calculated by this site.05 The Most Expensive Tolls in the Country
Rates vary enormously by facility. FHWA's report lists a maximum passenger-vehicle fee for every crossing in the country; the most expensive ones cluster around a handful of major East Coast river crossings.
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, Table T-1, Part 1 (Interstate System Toll Bridges and Tunnels), "Maximum Pass. Fee" column.| Facility | State(s) | Max Passenger Toll |
|---|---|---|
| Holland Tunnel, Goethals Bridge, George Washington Bridge | NY–NJ | $16.00 |
| Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge | NY | $13.75 |
| New Blue Water Bridge | MI–Ontario | $12.00 |
| Verrazzano-Narrows, Throgs Neck, RFK, Queens Midtown, Hugh L. Carey, Bronx-Whitestone | NY | $11.19 |
| Sault Ste. Marie | MI–Ontario | $8.00 |
| San Francisco-Oakland Bay, Carquinez, Martinez-Benicia, Richmond-San Rafael | CA | $7.00 |
| Fort McHenry Tunnel, Baltimore Harbor Thruway Tunnel | MD | $6.00 |
| J.F. Kennedy Bridge, Abraham Lincoln Bridge | KY–IN | $5.04 |
06 Trucks Pay Far More Than Passenger Cars
The same crossings that top the list for cars charge much more for the largest commercial trucks: the truck-to-passenger ratios in the table below range from 3.6 to 8.3 times. FHWA notes that maximum and minimum truck fees at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey crossings are per axle.
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, Table T-1, Part 1, "Maximum Truck Fee" column.| Facility | Max Passenger | Max Truck | Truck ÷ Passenger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holland Tunnel, Goethals Bridge, George Washington Bridge | $16.00 | $132.00 | 8.3× |
| Sault Ste. Marie | $8.00 | $55.00 | 6.9× |
| Verrazzano-Narrows, Throgs Neck, RFK, and other NY MTA crossings | $11.19 | $69.77 | 6.2× |
| Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge | $13.75 | $49.25 | 3.6× |
At the extreme end, a handful of Alaska's toll ferries, not roads or bridges, but the only surface link to some coastal communities, charge far more than any bridge in the Lower 48. The Alaska Marine Highway's Motor Vessel Tustumena, which serves the Aleutian Chain, lists a maximum vehicle fare of $6,943.00 for its longest route; the Motor Vessel LeConte lists up to $1,249.00. These aren't commuter tolls, they're the price of the only vehicle transport available to remote communities with no road connection at all.
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, Table T-1, Part 5 (Vehicular Toll Ferries).07 Why Toll Rates Vary: Fixed, Time-of-Day, and Dynamic Pricing
FHWA's report classifies each facility's pricing into one of three types. Fixed means the rate does not vary by time of day or traffic conditions, though it may vary by vehicle or weight class or by distance traveled. Time-of-day pricing varies on a pre-set schedule, and dynamic pricing varies with current traffic conditions. In Table T-1, 427 rows are Fixed, 55 are time-of-day and 42 are dynamic (a facility can have more than one row).
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, Table T-1, "Toll Type" column.Los Angeles County's I-10 and I-110 Express Lanes are a clear example of dynamic pricing in practice: the posted rate runs from about 10 cents per mile during off-peak hours up to 35 cents per mile during peak hours, capped at a $27.00 maximum for the full corridor.
Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023, Table T-1, Part 3 (Interstate System Toll Roads), I-10 and I-110 Express Lanes entries, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.08 Data Sources
Every figure in this article comes from a single U.S. government source. No proprietary, estimated, or third-party data was used.
- Federal Highway Administration, Office of Highway Policy Information. Toll Facilities in the United States, July 2023 edition (data as of January 1, 2023). Fact Sheet, toll mileage trend charts, and Table T-1, Parts 1–5. fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation