Northwest Indiana commuters on the Indiana Toll Road should be able to speed past toll booths by the end of May.

Toll Road operator ITR Concession Co. announced Tuesday it plans to have E-ZPass electronic tolling up and running in Northwest Indiana by then. ITR Concession will be the first private toll road operator in the nation to offer E-ZPass.

"We honestly are excited about this," ITR Concession spokesman Matt Pierce said. "It's the future of every toll road. You need to be electronic."

The Indiana Toll Road E-ZPass will go by the name I-Zoom, just as Illinois has I-Pass.

Cars and motorcycles with I-Zoom transponders will get a 40 percent discount on the new, higher tolls, which should be in effect by year-end.

The I-Zoom transponders also will operate on the Illinois Tollway, Chicago Skyway, and other E-ZPass toll roads in 10 other states.

Illinois residents will be able to use their I-Pass transponders on the Indiana Toll Road. But to get the 40 percent discount they will have to get I-Zoom transponders.

I-Zoom transponders will go on sale in May. Transponders will be available for a one-time charge of $10 to $12, Pierce said.

I-Zoom tolling will be installed on the entire 157-mile toll road by the end of the year, Pierce said. It will cost $40 million to install the E-ZPass system.

The E-ZPass Interagency Group, of Atlantic City, N.J., voted this week to accept ITR Concession Co. as a full member.

Under ITR Concession Co's. concession agreement with the state, the complete implementation of electronic tolling will trigger higher tolls for cars and motorcycles.

With the higher tolls, a Northwest Indiana commuter getting on at Willow Creek Road in Portage and going through the West Point toll plaza near the Illinois border will pay $1.75 in tolls. The current tolls total 80 cents. With the 40 percent discount for those with I-Zoom, the tolls will add up to $1.05.

A car or motorcycle traveling the length of the Toll Road would pay $8. The current toll is $4.65. With I-Zoom it will be $4.80.

Trucks and other vehicles started paying higher tolls in June. It was the first toll hike on the Toll Road in more than 20 years. It came just weeks before ITR Concession Co. took over operation of the road.

The 40 percent discount for cars and motorcycles using I-Zoom was a concession offered by Gov. Mitch Daniels to get Toll Road privatization legislation passed. The 40 percent discount will remain in effect through 2016.

It is estimated the discount will cost the state about $278 million.

ITR Concession is a subsidiary of Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Cintra Concessiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. Macquarie and Cintra won the Toll Road concession last year with a $3.8 billion bid.

Some 9 million motorists use E-ZPass systems on roadways in the East and Midwest, according to the E-ZPass Interagency Group.