Opinion favors modernization

Tolls are not the issue in Chicago, but the traffic, according to an opinion survey done for the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and a local TV station. 58% of those surveyed said the tolls provide value for money, against 33% who disagree. Among those with I-PASS electronic toll transponders 71% think the tollroads provide value for money.

By 52% to 44% those surveyed said they would be willing to pay higher tolls if that helped provide better service on the roads. However when asked if they supported specific new tolls rates, only minorities said “Yes.” Maybe detaching toll increases from improvements raises skepticism about whether they will see benefits?

41% of those surveyed said they opposed the Governor’s “No More Tolls” plan while 37% said they support it. Of those who said they were familiar with the plan 54% opposed it, to 44% who supported it. Among actual users of the tollway 65% oppose the governor’s plan.

72% of tollway users said the Governor should not be re-elected, suggesting the plan has done him little good with tollway users.

There was overwhelming skepticism the tolls would ever be taken off, the pollsters said without giving numbers. The Governor’s plan had little credibility.

The don’t-detoll-modernize strategy gets clear support from the following: over two-thirds said that the nuisance of stopping to pay a toll was a greater problem than the cost of the toll itself, which suggests that the 40c tolls are regarded by area motorists as ‘nuisance tolls.’ Only 14% of those surveyed said the expense of the toll was worse than the toll plaza nuisance.

The TRIBUNE’s Rick Pearson summarized: “The findings of the poll, based on an overall sample of 898 active registered voters statewide, indicate an evolution in the mind-set of motorists who have lived under the original 45-year-old promise that someday the toll roads would become freeways. As motorists have become political and practical realists when it comes to the tollway system, the once populist vow to wipe out tollbooths is no longer an automatic panacea for a politician attempting to curry favor with Chicago-area voters.”