State Tollway Authority Considering I-PASS Toll Hike (Updated)

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Apr 19, 2010 4:00PM

With mounting debt of almost $7 billion and at least $4 billion in repairs due, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is reportedly looking into hiking tolls for I-PASS users. Crain's reports this morning that revenue from tolls has platueaed since 2005 while operating expenses have increased and debt payments on bonds sold in 2005 have rocketed up by over 130 percent since 2005. Raising the toll is a rare thing for the ISTHA. According to Crain's:

The agency has adjusted tolls just four times in its 52-year history. Tolls rose to 40 cents from 30 cents in 1963, dropped to 35 cents in 1970 and then increased to 40 cents in September 1983. Rates stayed there until September 2004, when the toll board approved the Congestion Relief Program, authorizing $3.5 billion in bond sales and increasing tolls to cover the rest.

To encourage electronic tolling, the agency kept tolls at 40 cents for passenger cars using the I-Pass system but doubled them for anyone paying cash. Trucks, which make up less than 12% of tollway traffic, bore the brunt of the increase. Even with an I-Pass, tolls for commercial vehicles rose to $1.50 from 50 cents. For truckers paying cash, tolls can run as high as $4.

Also not helping matters is a taint connected to former governor Rod Blagojevich who allegedly appointed colleagues to the ISTHA in exchange for fundraising promises, an allegation that will be argued at his trial this summer. The ISTHA is also on its fifth executive director since 2008. There's no word on how much tolls would be raised if it were to go through, but there's already an anti-hike sentiment in the state legislature. State Sen. Kirk Dillard told Crain's, "This is a terrible time to raise tolls, in a recession and with the anti-tax mood in the country. A toll increase will lead to an entirely new Tea Party movement."

Update: The ISTHA has denied any plan to raise tolls is being explored.

Check out the full, detailed feature at Crain's.