Mackinac Bridge adding 2.3% credit card fee to pay for “never-ending” maintenance 

The Mackinac Bridge Authority will add a fee for those who pay tolls using a credit card starting in 2025. 

The 2.3% “convenience fee” for tolls paid by credit card will go into effect on January 1st, 2025, the Authority announced on Friday, November 8th. 

According to a press release, the new fees will be put in place to counteract the rising transaction fees from credit card companies, which cost the Mackinac Bridge Authority $341,761 in 2024 so far. 

“Though this convenience fee will not cover all credit card processing costs, it will help defray those costs in a way that will allow us to continue directing most of our toll revenues to the never-ending job of maintaining and operating the Mackinac Bridge,” Authority Chairman Patrick “Shorty” Gleason said in the release.

The Authority will also stop accepting American Express as a payment method in the new year due to higher-than-average transaction fees.