
A Single Michigan City is Experimenting With Toll Roads – It’s Not Going Well
Most Michigan drivers are familiar with the state's toll facilities, the Mackinac Bridge and the international crossings to Canada at Detroit, Port Huron and Sault Ste. Marie.
Many fewer are in the know on Bay City's experiment with toll bridges.
👇🏼BELOW: Heads Up - These are the Lowest Clearance Bridges in Michigan👇🏼
The city has leased two municipally owned and operated bridges over the Saginaw River to a company that will operate and maintain them in exchange for toll revenue.
Those bridges are the Liberty Bridge just north of downtown which connects Vermont Street and Woodside Avenue as well as the Independence Bridge north/downstream which carries Truman Parkway.
READ MORE: Michigan Explains Why They Will Likely Never Offer EZ-Pass on the State's Toll Bridges
The bridges were leased in 2022. Tolling began in 2024 on the Liberty Bridge and just weeks ago at the beginning of 2025 for the Independence Bridge.
Bay City Bridge Partners has already announced a toll hike. A monthly unlimited plan is doubling to $30 from $15, but will be phased out in July 2025.
Crossings are $2 using an EZ-Pass like device and a whopping $5.50 if you cross without one and you are billed by your license plate.
According to the Bay City Times, municipal attorneys are looking at the contract the city negotiated with the bridge vendor to see if the hikes are within the bounds of their agreement while the mayor told WJRT-TV, "I was really disappointed, and quite frankly disgusted, that no notification was given to the city."
How did the city get itself into this position? A redditor explains:
"It was tolls or raise taxes, and taxes would never get passed."
That doesn't make it any easier to stomach for daily commuters:
not only do I have to work in BC, but I need to travel back and forth in the evening for services for my son.
There was no excuse for BC to give a company control of infrastructure. But once they did that have no excuse to be surprised they got robbed.
These toll faculties are draw bridges which need to raise and and lower to accommodate shipping channels. One redditor makes the observation of the cost of the relatively short Bay City bridges to the state's best known Mackinac Bridge, a full 5 miles across:
Crazy that the bridge costs more to cross than the Mighty Mackinaw. City officials don’t care about the frustration coming from residents. My heart hurts for low-income people who can barely afford gas, let alone a toll.
There are two toll-free crossings of the Saginaw River within Bay City further south/upstream. The southernmost, the Lafayette Bridge carries M-84 and is owned and operated by the state of Michigan. However that bridge is closed to all traffic as its being demolished and replace. That leave just one toll-free bridge, the Veterans Memorial Bridge into downtown, another state owned piece of infrastructure that carries M-25/Business Spur I-75.
Heads Up - These are the Lowest Clearance Bridges in Michigan
Gallery Credit: Google Maps Street View
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