CHEYENNE - A state lawmaker says one way to solve mounting maintenance costs on Interstate 80 in Wyoming is to impose a toll on drivers.

"We'd make the road pay for itself," said Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, a member of the Senate Transportation Highways and Military Affairs Committee.

Based on projections from other states, Von Flatern said a passenger car might pay $12 to $15 to drive the entire 400-mile section of I-80 in Wyoming, or about 3 cents a mile. A commuter from Laramie to Cheyenne might pay $1.20 a day, while commercial drivers would pay more, he said.

In exchange for their money, drivers could expect more lanes, better maintenance and more snow plows working the interstate.

Von Flatern acknowledged the proposal will be controversial, especially in southern Wyoming, but he said the region enjoys considerable economic benefit from a highway supported by taxpayers across the state.

"If you see an extra lane put in, you see some ugly curve straightened out, some very bad snow areas taken care of with new snow fence, I would certainly think your couple bucks a day would be well spent," Von Flatern said.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation isn't pushing for toll roads, but State Planning Engineer Bob Milburn acknowledged recently that tolls may be worth considering if projections about traffic growth and maintenance costs hold true.

Some states have opted to lease roads to private companies that run them as a business and collect tolls. Von Flatern said he'd prefer to keep management of I-80 under WYDOT, but the issue would need to be studied. Toll roads exist in about half of the 50 states. The majority of states without toll roads are in the West and the South.

"I'm really just saying that is one of the possibilities," Von Flatern said.

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