Hearings concluded, toll increase vote could come Thursday
Illinois tollway leaders signaled they'll vote on proposed toll hikes this week as a series of tempestuous public hearings concluded Tuesday.
“At this point, we've had nearly 1,400 people attend the hearings, and based on the comments we've received, about 85 percent have expressed support for the plan,” tollway Chairman Paula Wolff said in an email.
“We'd like to have a vote on Thursday, if the board is prepared to do so,” Wolff wrote.
If tollway directors approve the increase intended to fund a $12 billion capital plan, it could mean tolls will jump by a range of 35 cents to 45 cents at most plazas Jan. 1.
Tuesday's hearings were in Schaumburg, Buffalo Grove and Montgomery. Construction unions and professional engineering associations were strongly represented at the Schaumburg hearing, with members speaking passionately in favor of the jobs that would be created by the project. The tollway has estimated the capital program could create up to 120,000 permanent jobs plus temporary construction jobs.
“I'm banking on one of these jobs,” said Tony Martoccia of Melrose Park, a construction worker who hasn't worked in two years and said he's struggling with raising a 9-month-old son. He said he's already had to spend much of the money he'd been saving for his son's education.
Others in the crowd that filled the main theater of Schaumburg's Prairie Center for the Arts asked the tollway to be sensitive to the impact increased tolls would have on the general public.
Mary Baars of Aurora, who commutes to Schaumburg for her job, said she's convinced of the need for the proposed tollway improvements but wanted officials to be aware of the cost to single-income families like her own.
“Think of what a burden this will be!” she pleaded.
Robert Miller of Inverness was among the most outspoken tollway critics, saying the praise previous speakers gave the agency really belonged to the roads that predated the toll system.
“We don't trust you anymore,” Miller told tollway representatives. “We think you're losing our money. You're the trolls of the highway.”
Every speaker received only supportive applause from the audience, though those who criticized the plan heard a quieter response.
Christina Tobin, vice president of Taxpayers United of America, argued that the purpose of the tollway authority is to provide roads, not funnel money to well-connected construction contractors. She argued much of what's proposed in the project is unnecessary.
“Every dollar donated to the toll roads is one less dollar donated to the local roads,” Tobin said.
But Gerry Krozel was one area resident who spoke in support of the tollway and ensuring that money spent on tolls stays in the system, and does not get diverted to other projects like taxes collected by the state or federal governments are. He said if the tollway project doesn't go forward, other governments will just be spending more money on unemployed people who are stuck at home.
Jamie Regan, who operates a trucking company called Conway Freight based in Michigan, said his firm already spends $2.5 million on tolls each year and can't afford the 60 percent increase being proposed. He said his customers can't accommodate any cost increase on his part and are even expecting cost decreases now because of the state of the economy.
Ken Basso criticized only particular aspects of the overall project. He didn't think improvements to the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway should be included as that road was originally intended to be a state project, not a tollway one. And he asked officials to be very specific about the improvements they intend to make to Interstate 90.
Representatives of both the Hoffman Estates Fire Department and the Alexian Brothers Health System asked that a full interchange be built where the Jane Addams Tollway meets Barrington Road in order to get ambulances to the emergency room of St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates more quickly.
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority announced the 15-year construction program in July. It aims to maintain and improve existing roads, including widening the Jane Addams Tollway from O'Hare to Rockford. It also would fund extending the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway to the airport and building a western bypass around O'Hare, constructing an interchange at I-57 and the Tri-State Tollway (I-294), plus studying expanding Route 53.
Tollway board Director Bill Morris of Grayslake has offered a Plan B with a rate hike of 15 cents at 40-cent toll plazas with corresponding increases elsewhere to fund a 10-year capital plan. Morris' proposal allows for reviews of toll rates every three years with the assumption that increases likely will be needed to complete projects including the Elgin-O'Hare and interchange.
Morris said voting on the toll increase Thursday would be moving too quickly.
“The new rates weren't publicly presented until a month ago. A 15-year capital plan and nearly 100 percent increase in tolls is an awfully big decision to make in a month,” he said.
On the low end, the toll increases could mean an Aurora resident traveling on I-88 to work in Naperville and using two tolled ramps a day might pay 35 cents more a day or $87.50 more a year, assuming two weeks of vacation.
On the high end, someone driving from Lombard to a job in Arlington Heights on I-355 who uses the Army Trail plaza and two tolled ramps could pay $1.35 a day more or $337 annually.