TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to get rid of tolls for Florida drivers, but keep them for everyone else.
DeSantis is focused on making the Florida Turnpike free for people who live in Florida. The turnpike tolls generate about $2 billion a year.
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“The tolls have been here since I can remember. As a kid, they had tolls on the turnpike. At what point is all of this going to be paid off?” DeSantis said Wednesday.
DeSantis made the suggestion during a discussion about affordability in a state Cabinet meeting.
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The only tolled roads in Northeast Florida are the First Coast Expressway and express lanes on Interstate 295.
“You could charge the visitors. They could probably support it all and give our Florida residents a break. I think that would be really good,” DeSantis said.
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Tolls have been collected on Florida’s Turnpike since its first section opened as the Sunshine State Parkway in 1957.
Toll money, initially used to pay off bonds that financed building the road, goes toward new projects.
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