© 2025 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.
State lawmakers are making decisions that touch your life, every day. Like how roads get built and why so many feathers get ruffled over naming an official state bird. Your Florida is a reporting project that seeks to help you grasp the workings of state government.

DeSantis floats getting rid of tolls for Florida residents

Toll booth at the Sunshine Skyway
Google Maps
Toll roads in Florida reportedly collect more than $2 billion annually.

Gov. Ron DeSantis wants tourists to shoulder the cost of tolls instead of Florida residents.

Do Florida tolls take a toll on your wallet? There's a chance a change could leave you with more change.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is floating freeing Florida residents from roadway tolls. He thinks tourists could cover the cost.

"You could charge the visitors, and they could probably support it all and give our Florida residents a break," he said at Wednesday's Florida Cabinet meeting.

Tolls are used to maintain and operate certain highways. They also pay off bond debt from construction.

“They've been here since I can remember, like as a kid they had the tolls on the turnpike," DeSantis said. "At what point is all this going to be paid off?"

Florida has previously offered frequent toll road users a half-off credit, saving many hundreds of dollars in a year.

Toll roads in Florida reportedly collect more than $2 billion annually.

The governor was speaking to Ben Watkins, Florida's bond finance director, who responded, "We'll take a look at that."

If you have any questions about state government or the legislative process, you can ask the Your Florida team by clicking here.

This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Tallahassee can feel far away — especially for anyone who’s driven on a congested Florida interstate. But for me, it’s home.
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.