illinois tollway

The Illinois Tollway and the village of Rosemont celebrated the opening today of a new all-electronic toll (AET) ramp for northbound motorists on the Tristate Tollway I-294 at Balmoral Avenue near O'Hare International Airport.

Big toll highway improvement projects are moving in the Chicago IL and Dallas TX areas.

For some $12 billion of improvements planned over 15 years the Illinois Tollway is looking for project management services worth about $200m - let's revise that: expected to cost about $200m - for

(1) the $3.1b Elgin O'Hare Bypass project around the south and west of the Chicago area's big airport

(2) a $600m+ rebuild and expansion of the I-57/Tristate Tollway I-294 interchange and

The Illinois Tollway has issued a Request for Information (RFI) as the first step to procuring a new toll system. Kristi Lafleur, executive director told us on the telephone today that the Tollway hopes to get more flexibility and more capability from a new toll system.

The Illinois Tollway will study converting the central two reversible lanes of the I-90 Kennedy Expressway to toll managed lanes as part of a larger study on using variable pricing to improve performance of the I-90 corridor from Chicago northwest toward Rockford.

In a 7 to 1 vote the board of the Illinois Tollway has set in process an increase in the basic commuter electronic toll from 40c to 75c. Cash tolls for cars will go from 80c to $1.50. Truck tolls will rise 60% in 2015 and be indexed. The higher toll rates are what the Tollway says is needed to support some $12 billion of improvements to the area's interstate tollways to be made over 15 years 2012 to 2026.

Illinois Tollway staff and consultants are proposing big toll increases for cars to support a 15 year capital program that's about 70% repair and 30% new capacity. Toll rates for cars would rise between 88% and 100% in the new year, while truck tolls would grow at previously announced levels in 2015.  At least for cars toll rates in Illinois are low in the sense that they are well below revenue maximizing levels.

Not quite, but they do have a standardized approach to requests for new interchanges at the Illinois Tollway. You're required to "provide the following information for the Tollway’s consideration: definition of project need; traffic analysis and technical evaluation, an economic development analysis, a financial plan, and resolutions of support for the project."

The Illinois Tollway is allowing motorists receiving violation notices to access the camera images of the violation online. This is part of a new process to make it easier for motorists to challenge violation notices.

The Illinois Tollway's executive director Kristi Lafleur is crowing over her bond ratings.

ExxonMobil have negotiated a transfer of the convenience stores at their service plaza fuel stations on the Illinois Tollway system to 7-Eleven. Fuel pumps will continue to have the ExxonMobil brand but management of the stores will be transferred to 7-Eleven. The big fuel company decided it wanted 'out' of the masnagement of the convenience stores and last year negotiated a proposed sale to a little known Illinois fuel company. The Tollway refused to accept the transfer, but has welcomed the 7-Eleven chain.

7-Eleven will be rebranding the convenience stores with its name.