WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - The Kansas Department of Transportation is looking for ways to replace the state-wide gas tax with a program that could put up to $100 dollars in the pockets of Kansas drivers.

Each time you go to the pump, a portion of what you pay goes towards maintaining the roads and bridges. But as Kansans drive more fuel-efficient cars, fewer people are paying at the pump. 

Because of this, KDOT is exploring what is being called a "road usage charge" or RUC for drivers. This program would charge drivers by the miles they drive instead of paying at the pump.  This is the 24 cents per gallon of gasoline or 26 cents per gallon of diesel we pay for at the pump. 

This could replace gas taxes as a new way of funding, but some people have other ideas.

"Electric cars obviously they're not going to be effected by the gas tax but they're still going to use the road. Maybe we need to start banking that into car registration, you know, just build in a road usage fee based on the weight of your car," said Jake Grube, a Kansas driver.

Most states already using a road usage charge are on the east and west coasts. 

The Kansas Department of Transportation is leading this federally-funded Midwest RUC Study in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation

Kansas is looking for people to hop in the drivers seat for a 3-month test drive of a real R-U-C experience, which is expected to start in the spring of 2024. It is paying drivers up to a hundred dollars for their feedback to help better understand funding of roads in the future.