Tollway Board Approves Major Hike

Motorists, be prepared to pay up t twice as much in tolls. The Illinois Tollway Board approved a toll hike of up to 87.5 percent today to fund an ambitious $12 billion capital infrastructure project that will overhaul and update a majority of the tollway system.

The Tollway Board voted 7-1 in favor of the project, which received an eleventh-hour push from Gov. Pat Quinn.

The plan means tolls for motorists using Illinois Tollway roads will nearly double for most passenger cars, increasing to a range of 30 cents to $1.90 — up from the current 15 cents to $1 most drivers now pay. I-Pass toll rates toll rates will rise from 40 cents to 75 cents.

The toll increases will fund the capital plan called "Move Illinois," a 15-year plan that will rebuild and modernize the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway linking Rockford to O’Hare Airport; a new interchange to connect I-294 to I-57 (one of only two places in the nation where interstates cross but do not connect); and a new all-electronic Elgin O’Hare West Bypass that can provide western access to O'Hare.

Quinn told media yesterday the Tollway Board should vote its conscience. "But the bottom line is sometimes it's necessary if you're going to have less congestion, which is a big issue....I think a lot of families appreciate the fact that they can get from work home faster, get home to work faster. That saves them time and it's worth money," Quinn said.

The increase could cost motorists who use the Tollway system hundreds of dollars a year. Tribune reporter Richard Wronski puts everything into perspective here.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@chicagoist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Chuck Sudo in News on August 25, 2011 4:15 PM

Comments [rss]

slickpoetry

As a person who lived near the I-57 and I-294 missing interchange for most of my life, I can tell you that the need to build an interchange there is wildly overstated. You can save a ton of money (and help the local distressed economies) by not building the interchange but putting some money into improving the stretch of 159th Street that connects the two interstates. The 159th street corridor between the two interstates is only 1.5 miles long and doesn't present a major inconvenience to most travelers (apart from a stop light at Kedzie)

kieller

My parents live off the Jane Adams, I keenly remember them doing construction on it for the past 2 years, wtf did they do if they are going to rebuild it again...

slickpoetry

someone ate my post.

Preston Cummings

You have to travel at most 2 miles out of the way because of the missing I-57/I-294 interchange. How many millions are they spending so drivers can save 5 minutes?

BlueFairlane

(one of only two places in the nation where interstates cross but do not connect)

I know this because I've taken a lot of road trips, but off the top of my head I can think of three spots where this happens: I-80 and I-271 south of Cleveland; I-80 and I-76 in eastern Pennsylvania; I-95 and I-276 about halfway between Philadelphia and New York City. This sort of thing was not at all uncommon where the interstate system has incorporated previously existing, state-funded tollways.

Also in Pennsylvania, there's this weird point where I-70 and I-76 travel together for a while, then 70 turns south toward Maryland, but there's a gap where you have to leave the freeway to do it, and it involves at least one stoplight. So there you have a situation where an interstate doesn't even intersect itself

slickpoetry

I wrote a "fact-checking" reply to this post, which was deleted I think because I had too many links in it. The links were only to google maps, but whatever.

I-80 and I-76 do not cross each other anywhere in Pennsylvania. They do cross in eastern Ohio, and there is an interchange there.

I-95 and I-276 do not cross at all, technically. I-276 ends at I-95 at a point in central Jersey. There is an interchange between the two.

You're correct about I-80 and I-271

BlueFairlane

I-80/I-76 ... that was a typographical error on my part. I meant I-81/I-76, which cross each other at Middlesex, PA, just west of Harrisburg. My bad.

I-95 and I-276 do indeed cross without an intersection in extreme eastern Pennsylvania, just north of exit 40 on I-95. 276 then continues on into New Jersey, where it ends at the New Jersey Turnpike ... which becomes 95 someplace north of there and is what is probably leading to your confusion. I-95 does some weird things in this region, and actually dies out for a while, but it is still in PA when it passes 276. Go to mapquest, search Hulmeville, PA.

Incidentally, one more example I found while looking at my map last night: I-81/I-476 near Scranton.

slickpoetry

I see it now. Sorry for doubting you! :)

John Elstad

Illinois, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.

ChicagoD

Stupid lousy asking people to pay for what they use.

John Elstad

Sorry there ChicagoD, great use of sarcasm though. Must have caught me at a bad time considering I just got done paying 10.5% sales tax on my lunch, and then read that the Chicago Public Schools voted to raise property taxes (I have no kids that use CPS). Then caught this article about a "massive toll increase", just a couple months after I read an article about a "massive income tax increase". We all know how well these IL publicly run programs/organizations work... Oh yeah, I also can't run Amazon ads on my websites anymore, now that Quinn has signed that other "tax scheme" (Amazon's words) into law. Some tax money is better than policy that doesn't allow tax money to come in.

furytrader

The question isn't about charging people for "what they use" but approximately 1/3 of this toll hike is to pay for projects that are not needed immediately, but which are being supported by Quinn and others because "they'll create jobs".

I would argue that letting people keep more money on in their pocket by not having to pay higher tolls, and instead spending it on things that they need immediately, would be a more efficient way to create jobs.

However, this would result in less power to the state government, which is anethema to most Illinois politicians.

See: http://www.chicagotribune.com/...