lanes to prevent motorists from evading tolls. Ken Blackwell, the defeated candidate in the 2006 Ohio governor's race, had announced a plan for privatizing the turnpike, similar to plans enacted in Illinois and Indiana. In 2010 and 2011, Governor John Kasich stated that he would consider a turnpike lease, but only during a prosperous economic period. In August 2011, Kasich stated his intention to create a task force to produce a leasing plan and also considered the option of reassigning the maintenance of the highway to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). Ultimately he decided against both, instead proposing to issue more debt under the renamed Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, with cash tolls raised annually over a ten-year period to compensate. In 2021, the Turnpike Commission began new construction efforts to improve toll collections and modernize service plazas. Upgrades at the plazas will include alternate food vendors and the addition of electric vehicle charging stations. The big result will be the addition of new toll plazas that will allow E-ZPass users to use open road tolling, traveling through them at speeds up to 75 mph, paying their tolls without stopping. The total of toll plazas will be decreased by seven, from the current 31 to 24 with a cost savings of over $257 million over 30 years. The new system will be operational in the spring of 2023. Speed limits The Ohio Turnpike opened on October 1, 1955, with a limit for cars and limit for trucks. The automobile speed limit was increased on September 30, 1963, in concert with other Ohio rural Interstates to . Due to the National Maximum Speed Law, a 55 mph speed limit took effect in 1974 for all vehicles. The 55 mph limit remained until 1987 when the Ohio General Assembly adopted the federally permitted 65 mph maximum speed limit, but for automobiles only. Governor Taft asked the Ohio Turnpike Commission to work with ODOT and the OSHP to formulate a plan to encourage truck traffic to use the turnpike instead of parallel highways, improving the safety of those other roadways. The three organizations created a plan with three points. The truck speed limit was increased from for consistency with the automobile limits. Enforcement of truck weight and speed limits on parallel highways was increased, and truck toll rates were lowered in a trial. The speed limit increase took effect on September 8,