ILLINOIS:State senate report

The report says the Tollway will soon be in financial crisis if the present toll levels remain.

“The picture is bleak. Large portions of the tollway system are crumbling and in need of total reconstruction. Roadway repair projects are uncovering greatly deteriorated pavements, and the useful life of new asphalt overlays is decreasing due to the deterioration of the underlying concrete base. Toll revenues are projected to increase only marginally in the future and will not be sufficient to to fund all of the needs for infrastructure preservation.”

The report does not explicitly support a toll increase but paints a picture of a road system in need of more revenue. It says that until a clear plan for the Tollway is adopted it would be irresponsible of the legislature to consider defeasing the Tollway’s bonds.

Parker says of the Governor’s request for defeasance: “The critical question, after defeasement ....what then?”

Parker calls the “lack of planning” by the Tollway “total and complete negligence.” “The Tollway board should be held accountable for allowing the toll roads to deteriorate to the point where the only alternative is to reconstruct them from the ground up. With regard to the tollway system’s capital needs the day of reckoning will come sooner rather than later.”

In fact the Tollway Authority board was paralysed by the anticipated political reaction to any toll increase. And in the absense of any political independence, not knowing whether it could get a toll increase or not, it was simply unable to make any longterm plans.

The report points out that the Governor has talked out of both sides of his mouth on the issue of the powers of the ISTHA board. It quotes the governor’s statements 7/25/99 when he said he was against higher tolls and would let the chairman of the board know how he felt on that issue. Just moments later the Governor said that he was not going to dictate to the board because they should be able to do their own thing. The report says tartly: “The legislature must know if the governor is going to ‘dictate to the board or will he allow the board to ‘do their own thing.’”

No Planning

Parker asks whether the Governor still plans a removal of toll locations and asks: “How can this be contemplated in the face of the overwhelming and staggering capital needs of the authority?”

She says: “We have no idea what the governor plans for the authority both short-term aand longterm. The govenror and the board must dveelop a comprehensive strategic plan, a plan that must address the tollway system’s billions of dollars in unmet capital needs including the fate of the proposed extensions, and explain how both the current system’s capital needs and the extension projects will be financed.”

A former governor (Stratton) was quoted as having said that tolls would only be maintained until the original bonds were paid off (ILLINOIS ISSUES 4/89) and the ILLINOIS BLUE BOOK in 1966 quoted Tollway officials as predicting the tollways would become freeways “no later than 1980.”

Parker says “Our citizens feel as if they were lied to. The governor and the board should face this issue head on.”

She quotes the IBTTA exec-dir as pointing out the removal of tolls would eliminate a source of funding for operations, capital preservation and extensions.

The report suggests a referendum on the fate of the Tollway “in the counties through which the Tollway passes.”

Elimination of tolls would require a 5 to 6c/gal gas tax increase, the report says.

It estimates state fuel taxes on vehicles traveling on the system are about $105m/yr plus local taxes of some tens of millions. It suggests the Tollway might be relieved of the costs of policing ($17m) and that it could claim from the state $235m to $250m/yr as its share of federal funding.

If a toll increase is needed, maybe it could be a cash-only increase. It suggests a pilot project with “congestion pricing” be considered: “Congestion pricing is effective at reducing congestion because it gives drivers a financial incentive not to drive during peak hours.”

There has been a flurry of bills in the legislature , some changing the way the Tollway works, some wanting a referendum, others demanding longterm strategies. The Governor they say at last is focussed on trying to come up with some way forward...or backward?