Indiana Toll Road

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In operation since 1956, the Indiana Toll Road (ITR) stretches 157 miles across the northernmost part of Indiana from its border with Ohio to the Illinois state line, where it provides the primary connection to the Chicago Skyway and downtown Chicago. The Indiana Toll Road links the largest cities on the Great Lakes with the Eastern Seaboard. Connections with I-65 and I-69 lead to major destinations in the South and on the Gulf Coast. After his election in 2004, Governor Mitch Daniels tasked the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) with the responsibility of exploring the feasibility of leasing the ITR to a private entity. IFA engaged Wilbur Smith to prepare a revenue analysis and Goldman Sachs to provide financial advice. These assessments led to IFA's release of a Request for Toll Road Concessionaire Proposals on September 28, 2005. Four teams submitted proposals by the October 26 deadline. The lease concession was awarded to Indiana Toll Road Concession Company, LLC (ITRCC) comprising an even partnership between Cintra of Spain and Macquarie of Australia. ITRCC submitted the highest bid of $3.8 billion. The ITR lease transaction was contingent upon authorizing legislation known as "Major Moves," which was signed into law in late March 2006. On April 12, 2006, ITRCC and IFA executed the "Indiana Toll Road Concession and Lease Agreement" providing for a 75-year lease of the ITR. ITRCC formally assumed operational responsibility for the ITR on June 29, 2006. As part of the concession, ITRCC pledged to spend $200 million on capital improvements to the facility during the first three years of the lease and approximately $4.4 billion over the life of the concession. By leasing the facility, the state was able to retire $225 million in debt. It allocated the remainder of the lease proceeds to several funds used solely to pay for infrastructure projects throughout the state. In March 2015 IFA awarded a new $5.725 billion, 66-year lease concession to IFM Investors following the 2014 bankruptcy of ITRCC. Nearly all of the sale funds will be used to pay back creditors holding ITRCC's debt. IFM has plans to invest $260 million in capital improvements over the first five years of the concession to address deteriorating pavement, bridges, and travel plazas.

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