International Bridge Toll: $4.70 Starting October 1

The passenger car toll on the International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie goes from $4.60 to $4.70 on October 1. It is the second increase this year, on a schedule adopted in 2023 that steps the toll every April 1 and October 1 through 2032 and reaches $7.00 in 2033. Crossings fell 23.8 percent last year. The schedule says the board “may suspend or delay proposed rate increases,” and no suspension had been announced as of September 26, 2026.

The toll you will see quoted online is often wrong. TollGuru lists $4.40. Wikipedia lists $4.50. The Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority’s own effective toll rate schedule has had the car toll at $4.60 since April 1, 2026, with commercial vehicles at $6.50 an axle. On October 1 those become $4.70 and $6.75.

Who sets it

The bridge is jointly owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation and The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited. Policy is set by the eight-member Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority, four members from each country. The International Bridge Administration runs the bridge day to day.

The board adopted the schedule, which runs through 2033, at its August 16, 2023 meeting in Ottawa after public hearings, and announced it that September. Its August 12, 2026 agenda carried traffic and revenue as an information item and a draft 2027 to 2031 business plan. Tolls were not on it. The October step is scheduled, not newly decided, and no suspension has been announced.

What the traffic actually did

The bridge counted 1,109,831 vehicles in 2024 and 845,713 in 2025, a drop of 23.8 percent, by the International Bridge Administration’s own historical table. For comparison the count was 1,572,050 in 2015.

The 2026 numbers are less bleak than the headlines. Federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics data for personal vehicles entering the United States at Sault Ste. Marie shows January down 22.8 percent from 2025 and February down 8.9, then every month since up: March 3.2 percent, April 18.7, May 13.8, June 10.4, July 5.0. January through July totals 226,658 inbound personal vehicles in 2026 against 221,399 in 2025, up 2.4 percent, and against 289,373 in 2024, still down 21.7 percent. Those are inbound counts only. We did not find the bridge’s own two-direction monthly figures for 2026.

What the toll pays for

The bridge is self-funded. MDOT’s own description, in a 2021 bulletin, is that the bridge is “totally self-funded, primarily through bridge tolls” and “is not subsidized by any state, provincial, or federal government entity.” When the 2023 increase was announced the bridge administration said it would help build the reserve fund for planned capital projects, and that it “will not fully address the projected long term capital deficit.” This summer’s work was painting the lower steel on the U.S. arch and resurfacing deck sections, with one lane of alternating traffic Monday through Thursday and work expected to finish by the end of August.

The lost traffic has a price tag beyond the toll booth. ProPublica reported in July that the International Bridge Administration estimates the Sault area lost at least $82.9 million in local spending in 2025 because of the decline, $62.7 million on the Michigan side and $20.2 million in Ontario.

The cheapest way across

An IQ transponder costs $2.00 with a $20 minimum account balance, from the bridge administration office at 934 Bridge Plaza; the bridge’s FAQ says customers can stop at the administration building 24/7 to open accounts or buy tags. The discount depends on how often the tag crossed in the previous 30 days, a rolling window rather than a calendar month: 0 to 4 crossings earns 10 percent off, 5 to 8 earns 20 percent, and 9 or more earns 35 percent. At $4.70 that is $4.23, $3.76 and $3.06. The Canadian-dollar car toll has been C$6.40 since April 1 and is reset each April and October by a currency review, so the October figure in Canadian funds is not yet posted.

Named sources: Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority effective toll rate schedule 2023 to 2033 and current toll rates, saultbridge.com; International Bridge Administration historical traffic table; U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics Border Crossing Entry Data, port of Sault Sainte Marie; Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority meeting agenda, August 12, 2026; MDOT news release, June 17, 2026; ProPublica, July 31, 2026; The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited.

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