chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
While nothing is said about trucks and commerical vehicles, you know that we will be hit.....and it ain't a small increase..
Tollway board approves toll hike
Tollway board approves toll hike - chicagotribune.com
By Richard Wronski Tribune reporter
12:10 p.m. CDT, August 25, 2011
The increase will go into effect Jan. 1.
Tollway board approves toll hike
Tollway board approves toll hike - chicagotribune.com
By Richard Wronski Tribune reporter
12:10 p.m. CDT, August 25, 2011
The Illinois Tollway board today approved a plan that would nearly double tolls to pay for an ambitious $12.1 billion program of expanding and building highways.
Basic I-Pass toll rates from 40 cents to 75 cents, with those who use cash continuing to pay double what I-Pass users do.
The vote was 7-1, with Bill Morris of Grayslake the lone no vote. The increase will go into effect Jan. 1.
Tollway officials say the new rates will still be a bargain and allow them to reduce congestion, create thousands of jobs and address badly needed improvements like widening and rebuilding to Jane Addams Tollway (I-90) between Rockford and O'Hare International Airport. At 6 cents per mile, the Illinois tollway system would rank in the bottom third among other tollway systems in the country.
Besides the Jane Addams, priority projects include a new interchange to link the Tristate Tollway (I-294) to U.S. Interstate 57, a ring road around the western edge of O'Hare and the completion of the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway, which would become a toll road.
Just before the vote, Morris proposed an amendment to the plan that would have included funds for construction of Illinois Highway 53 into Lake County. The plan already included provisions for study to evaluate work on Route 53.
The amendment was voted down, 5-3. "I guess it's time to pack it in," Morris said.
Since Aug. 18, tollway officials have held several public hearings on the proposal throughout the region. Those attracted mostly supporters, particularly people in the construction business who stand to gain from the building projects. Some tax protesters and individual motorists have come out against the plan.
Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday gave the tollway board the closest thing yet to a green light for a yes vote.
"The tollway has to do what's necessary to protect safety, lessen congestion, make sure that we have roads that are efficient," Quinn said. "Clearly, there is public support for making sure that we do this and do it right."
While defending the reasoning behind the proposed toll hike, the governor stopped short of endorsing the specific plan. He said the decision is up to the eight-member tollway board, half of whom he appointed, including the chairwoman.
"I'll let the board members decide in their conscience," Quinn said at a news conference. "They're the ones who have the legal duty."
The roadwork program, which could cost some drivers hundreds of dollars a year, will generate an additional $4.9 billion over 15 years to maintain the existing 286-mile system. Officials say it will also pay for additional projects such as a brand-new tollway circling the western edge of O'Hare International Airport and an extension of the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway, which would no longer be a freeway.
"We need to plan not just over five or 10 years, but we need to think about the next 15 or 20 years to keep our system in good repair," tollway Executive Director Kristi Lafleur said. "We've identified new initiatives that we believe are important not only for the tollway system but for the economic future of the region."
The construction program also calls for a new interchange in the south suburbs between the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) and I-57 and a totally rebuilt and widened Jane Addams Tollway (I-90) between O'Hare and Rockford.
In a first for the tollway and the Chicago area, the road agency would also subsidize mass transit by spending $240 million to make the Addams more user-friendly for express buses.
The current 40-cent rate I-Pass rate is charged at half the tollway's 22 mainline plazas. The other 11 plazas charge from 50 cents to $1 each time a passenger car goes through.
Quinn in the past has promised that each of the major projects in the construction plan would somehow be built.
Surrounded by DuPage County officials and labor union representatives in July, Quinn called for construction of the Elgin-O'Hare West Bypass, whose price tag is expected to top $3 billion. "This is imperative that we build this road for jobs (and) for economic growth," he said.
Quinn, who pushed through a 67 percent increase in the state income tax rate in January, was sympathetic to the toll hike idea.
"Well, I don't think anybody likes toll increases. Who would like that? But the bottom line is sometimes it's necessary if you're going to have less congestion, which is a big issue," Quinn said.
"I think a lot of families appreciate the fact that they can get from work to home faster and get home to work faster. That saves them time, and it's worth money," he said.
The governor added: "The bottom line is I think you have to understand the tollway has not had a general toll increase since 1983. At that time, the Chicago Tribune cost 25 cents. Today the Chicago Tribune costs $1."
Tollway board member Morris, a Quinn appointee who counts himself as a friend of the governor's, has taken issue with the size of the hike, saying an 87.5 percent jump is unnecessary.
The outspoken Morris campaigned against the big jump, saying a 15-cent increase is all that's needed at this time.
"I feel an obligation to the toll-paying public and the people of northern Illinois to just not roll over and accept an ill-conceived, almost 100 percent increase in tolls and a capital plan I believe is incomplete at best," Morris said Wednesday.
The 35-cent toll increase would cost an extra $150 to $200 a year for the average user, he said.
"It adds up to real money. We're hurting people who can least afford it," Morris said.
Lafleur, also a Quinn appointee, contends that Morris' numbers "don't necessarily add up."
Tollway officials held 15 public hearings on the construction program and toll increase, and labor unions, engineering companies and others who stand to benefit from building the projects turned out en masse to voice their support.
According to the tollway, more than 1,900 people turned out at the hearings held in all 12 counties served by the tollway system. Of those who turned out, 348 people expressed support for the program versus 54 against. The tollway also received written support from 743 respondents compared with 67 who were opposed.
Tribune reporters Monique Garcia and Becky Schlikerman contributed.
Last edited:
