Regional Talk > Chicago > Toll Increase

Toll Increase

So without the IPass it's $1.90? Wow...

I've saved so much money since moving out of the area this spring. Good riddance. Is there even a press release to the explanation in the increase? IL/Chicago financial debt must really be catching up to them.

I saw an article from August when they passed it. I didn't read it thoroughly though. Looked on the IL Tollway website and really couldn't find anything.

The explanation is "Because F*ck you! That's why".

reply to Jon
My friend just told me they increased the I88 tolls heading W as well (Dixon and DeKalb). From $1.90 to $3.80 for non IPass users. $.95 to $1.90 for IPass users.

I think this is an increase across the board at every toll plaza? Ouch. I wonder how this is going to effect shipping costs and the cost of general goods.

reply to sleuth
Official reason is "capital plan" and "infrastructure investments."

»www.illinoistollway.com/portal/p···a=PORTAL

I'm not exactly thrilled, but it's not going to keep me off the tollway.
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Well me either. There's really no great alternative to get to Schaumburg from here. Just pisses me off. Every time you turn around there sticking to you on something.

reply to sleuth

reply to sleuth
I just don't understand why they close the dixon toll plaza every evening. im dumbfounded they couldn't find some dude to sit there at night collecting tolls. Instead you take this paper card, mail it in or give it to the dekalb toll plaza people instead!
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reply to Jon
And once you try other tolls in the nation (like florida! a dollar toll like very few miles WTF?!?!?) this gets more more livable.

reply to Jon
It's across the board.

In other news, tollway employees won't get free tolls anymore. I knew they had free transponders, but I'm surprised they're taking them away. »www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca···27.story
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If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something.

reply to Jon
Every time I get annoyed with the tolls, I try to remember how bad 88 was before they added the additional lane. Or the one on 355 N of 75th....

I know if they were state roads they'd never get anything, so I keep telling myself that the money is a fair trade for the big reduction in time for my trip to and from home

Awesome, so you get to pay more while going 5-10 mph in the morning rush hour. I have never seen a state go after taxes and rate hikes on shit in a very bad depression like IL. F you Quinn. I swear, if my wife and I could find better jobs in another state I would leave, sick of this states tax increases and rate hikes on us for shit they screwed up. These politicians in IL need salary cuts first.

reply to Jon
I heard that on the news, back whenever.

The tolls today, if you use Ipass, are the same as the tolls were back in 1968 when I moved to Illinois. I really cannot complain about the increase.
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Well I could throw out the "They were never supposed to be permanent" thing but I won't.

I wouldn't complain about the taxes and increases as much if the money could actually be accounted for. But every year they have money shortages. So they raise fees or taxes to cover it, then have shortages again. Just look at CPS or IL Public schools in general. Where the hell is all that property tax money (that they're overcharging for IMO) going if it's not actually going to schools?

They've plundered the pension funds etc. I'm tired of them constantly taking more, more, more but the shortage issues never get resolved.

reply to Jon
They did have public hearings on these increases, although they didn't go out of their way to advertise them. In general the folks that did go to the hearings seemed to be in favor of the increase. If more people had shown up and complained, perhaps it would not have been passed.

I'll just say this as far as my personal gripe. I primarily drive I-88 and will have to pay the increases, but will see none of the benefits. The Tollway Authority doesn't give a crap about I-88 between Orchard Rd. and Iowa, it's the redheaded step child. I think they would just assume give it to IDOT if they could keep collecting toll revenue.

On the other hand I-90 is like the crown jewel and as usual is going to get most of the attention.

The first major project from the increased tolls will be the tearing down and rebuilding of I90 (Jane Addams) from O'Hare to Rockford.

Problem is they just resurfaced a major portion of it. So they will be tearing down a road they just spent millions on. It would be like residing or reroofing your house this year and tearing it down next year. But for the Toll Authority it makes perfect sense.

In the 20 years I've lived near and used I90 it has had construction probably 15 of those years. Now we get to deal with it being torn down and rebuilt for three years (or more). I

In a state that's pretty crooekd, the Toll Authority is as crooked as it gets. Just ask the one board member who opposed the toll increase...he was removed by Quinn lickety split.

reply to insomniac
That's true, however 2017 is a long way off and I question if it can wait that long. This past winter, although it was an especially awful one there were sections where the pavement buckled creating a washboard effect. It flattened out after the spring thaw, but it goes to show the poor condition of the substructure. The shoulder especially on the left side between East County Line Rd. and Orchard Rd. is all but useless for long stretches. 251 to Orchard Rd. was previously scheduled to be repaved next year, that is until they decided to widen I-90 instead.

There was a writeup in the Rockford Register Star a few months ago about the I-90 rebuild and widen. The Tollway Authority claims that it will save $400 million to do the project in 2012 instead of 2017. I suppose over the long term it makes sense. But then again, they couldn't have figured this out BEFORE they wasted millions on repaving it this year that could have been spent elsewhere!