A highway plan unveiled this week by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels could lead to tolls being used to extend Interstate 69 from Indianapolis to Evansville.

Perhaps even worse news for truckers and other drivers, however, the plan also calls for increasing fees on the Indiana Toll Road by 72 percent for cars and 113 percent for large trucks.

As part of his 10-year, $10.6 billion statewide highway construction plan, Daniels floated the possibility of leasing the Toll Road and an extended I-69 to a private group, which would receive the tolls and operate and maintain the roadways.

Any leasing plans would require approval from the Indiana General Assembly.

The administration plans to increase Toll Road fees on its own beginning next spring. The revenue would be used to maintain the road and fund other highway work.

Daniels said toll rates have not increased since 1985 and no longer meet maintenance needs.

Under the governor’s plan, dubbed “Major Moves,” increases on the Toll Road would vary by distance driven. The toll for passenger vehicles traveling the entire 157-mile route would rise from $4.65 to $8. Tractor-trailer rates for driving the same distance would increase from $14.55 to $32.

The toll increases would generate an estimated $700 million in 10 years.

“Very little of this will happen on a business-as-usual basis,” Daniels said in a written statement. “Without new approaches that stretch dollars and access new funding sources, only a fraction of these projects will happen within the next decade. Some will never happen.”

The governor is seeking higher tolls in part because he said he would not support a hike in the state’s 16-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel to pay for roadwork.

Daniels cited high fuel costs.