RiverLink tolls rose again July 1. How much of the Louisville bridges project is paid off?

If you're driving a car without a transponder, it now costs you $5.57 per crossing, up 11 cents from last year for cars.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Starting Wednesday, July 1, RiverLink tolls increased, a new range from $2.79 for passenger cars to $16.62 for trucks with five or more axles, depending on the type of vehicle and whether it has a transponder.

If you're driving a car without a transponder, it now costs you $5.57 per crossing, up 11 cents from last year for cars.

Annual rates are determined by a bi-state resolution established in 2013, which adjusts rates annually by 2.5% "unless the rate of inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) is higher." RiverLink said the April 2026 CPI was 3.8%, which is the rate for this year's adjustment.

The money goes toward operating and maintaining the three bridges connecting Louisville to southern Indiana. The project, which was finished in 2016, cost $2.3 billion, a decades-long effort to to re-vamp the Kennedy Bridge and build the Lincoln and East End bridges.

So far, Riverlink said it's collected $1.1 billion in toll revenue but that's far from the end of the road.

"There's interest on that," Mindy Peterson, a spokesperson for RiverLink, said Wednesday. "A lot of that interest is front loaded, and so it's going to be a much more significant price tag than that once you have all of the interest."

RiverLink said drivers can expect to pay tolls until at least 2053.

"We are more a long the lines of approaching 10 years into what you would call, in essence, a 40-year mortgage to pay off the bridges project," Peterson said. "So we still have a long ways to go."

The toll increases come as RiverLink rolls out collections for unpaid accounts. Peterson said it could take several more months for everyone to get their notices by text, email and mail.

To pay a bill, sign up for an account or learn more about the tolls, click here.

You can see the new rates in the graphic below, provided by RiverLink.