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 until it reaches $7.00 in April 2033. Crossings fell 23.8 percent last year. The schedule says the board “may suspend or delay” any step, and it has not.
The toll you will see quoted online is often wrong. TollGuru lists $4.00. 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 International Bridge Authority named in some coverage is the old name. The bridge is owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation and The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited, a Canadian federal Crown corporation. Policy is set by the eight-member Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority, four appointed by Michigan’s governor and four by the Federal Bridge Corporation. The International Bridge Administration is the MDOT unit that runs the bridge day to day under that board.
The board adopted the 2023 to 2033 schedule 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. The bridge’s own two-direction monthly figures for 2026 are not published.
What the toll pays for
The bridge is self-funded. MDOT’s own description is that operation and maintenance are paid “primarily through bridge tolls” and that the bridge “is not subsidized by any state, provincial, or federal government entity.” When the schedule was adopted the bridge administration said the increases would fund operations and maintenance and build a capital reserve, and that even the full schedule “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 single-lane closures Monday through Thursday into late 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, open around the clock, or online. 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. Accounts can be held in Canadian dollars. 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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