Tollway Sets Montgomery Forum on Toll Hike, Capital Plan

Starting in January, your tolls on state highways could go up by at least 35 cents, to pay for a $12 billion, 15-year round of repairs and reconstructions to the Illinois Tollway system.

If you have something to say about that, you’ll want to be at tomorrow.

The Illinois Tollway will host an open forum on the proposal from 7-9 p.m. on Aug. 23. This will be the 15th scheduled forum, and if it’s anything like the similar sessions held last week in Kane, DuPage, Will and Cook counties, expect a packed room and a wide range of opinions.

The toll increase is seeing opposition from small business owners and families who can’t afford to pay nearly double what they’ve been paying to drive the highways. But the extensive schedule of construction projects through 2026 has drawn support from labor unions, many of which have seen high unemployment among members.

Here are the facts on the proposal:

Tolls would increase by 35 cents for I-Pass users at a typical mainline toll plaza. Those paying cash would continue to pay double what an I-Pass user pays. So if the toll is now 40 cents, it would increase to 75 cents for I-Pass users, and those paying cash (who would already be paying 80 cents) would now pay $1.50.

That 35-cent increase would apply to 40-cent tolls only. Other plazas could see a 45-cent increase, or 90 cents for cash users. The Tollway has said that this is the first rate increase since 1983, but that is not taking into account that the rates doubled for non-I-Pass users in 2005.

The money collected from this new toll would go toward several projects over the next 15 years. The big ones:

• Reconstructing and widening Interstate 90 from Interstate 294 to Rockford.
• Reconstructing more than 20 miles of the central Tri-State Tollway (I-294) and the Edens Spur (I-94)
• Preserving the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88)
• Preserving the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355)
• Repairing roads, bridges and maintenance facilities
• Other capital projects, including local interchanges

The closest project to Montgomery is the I-88 reconstruction and resurfacing. The bridge connecting Route 30 with Route 290 would be repaired, beginning next year, and then in 2017, the Tollway would begin restoring 43.6 miles of highway, including the 5.5-mile stretch between the Farnsworth Avenue toll plaza and Route 59 through Aurora.

The Tollway would also completely reconstruct 5.2 miles of I-88, including the connector between I-88 and I-294. The total cost of I-88 work is expected to reach $389 million.

Tomorrow’s forum is free and open to the public, and will be simulcast on the Illinois Tollway website. For a complete look at the projects included in the 15-year capital plan, go here.