‘Toll-Free in ’73’? Illinois tolls cost drivers $27 billion since then
Drivers paid nearly $27 billion in tolls from 2024 back to 1973, the year the roads were to become toll-free. Now the largest passenger toll hike in Illinois history is possible.
In the 53 years since they were supposed to become free, drivers have paid nearly $27 billion to use Illinois’ toll roads.
Those drivers now face the possibility of the largest passenger toll increase in state history.
In a move to gain union support, last year’s transit bailout bill allows the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board to implement a hike that could raise $1 billion more in tolls a year starting in 2027.
Passenger drivers could see an increase of 45 cents per toll, driving the average up to $1.24, based on the most recent data. Commercial tolls could rise 30%.
That’s despite the fact that since 1973, the authority has collected more in tolls each year than it needed to operate and maintain the system. The agency reported more revenue from tolls in 2024 than any year in the tollway’s history.
For a hike to take effect Jan. 1, the board must vote by Dec. 2.
Record toll revenue in 2024
Illinois has five toll roads totaling almost 300 miles, mainly in Northern Illinois. The tollway authority took in nearly $1.44 billion in tolls in 2024, the most in any year since tolls were first charged in 1959.
Commercial drivers paid $742 million of that, again more than any other year in the tollway’s history, and passenger drivers paid $697 million. The total of almost $1.44 doesn’t count revenue recovered from fare evasion and penalties.
At 79 cents per toll, the cost was essentially the same in 2024 as in 2023 for passenger drivers, who made up the vast majority of toll transactions. Commercial tolls rose to a record-high average of $5.77 in 2024, analysis shows, up 27 cents from the previous year.
Preliminary data from the tollway indicates it collected $1.65 billion in tolls and evasion recovery in 2025. The revenue from tolls alone was not provided.
Record revenue in 2024 was driven primarily by two things: average commercial tolls rising to the highest price on record and toll transactions hitting over 1 billion for the first time since the pandemic, marking the second-most transaction in tollway history.
Average toll costs from commercial and passenger drivers can be affected by which tolls drivers pass through, what time of day they travel, what vehicle they drive and whether they pay via IPass, E-ZPass or online. Tolls paid with cash or online cost drivers twice as much.
Commercial drivers paid more than half of all 2024 toll revenue despite accounting for just 13% of transactions.
The state’s long history of raising tolls on commercial drivers has made life more expensive for trucking companies and Illinoisans, said Matthew Hart, executive director of the Illinois Trucking Association.
Almost everything purchased in Illinois comes off a truck at some point, Hart said. The potential toll hike would make everyday items more expensive, he said.
“Pretty much anything you buy moves by truck and anytime you increase the cost of moving things by truck, it costs the consumers more,” Hart said.
The promise of ‘Toll-Free in ’73’
The toll road system originated in the 1950’s with then-Gov. Bill Stratton. The Illinois General Assembly created the Illinois State Toll Highway Commission in 1953 to borrow money to build highways.
Stratton persuaded residents and politicians to support his plan by promising the tollway would be temporary. Supporters promised that traveling on the original 187 miles of tollway would become free once the bonds used to finance their construction were paid off in 1973 with toll collections. The roads were then to be maintained with gas tax dollars.
But in 1968 lawmakers decided to make the toll authority permanent and scrapped the toll-free promise. They realized by then that with the continued operation of the tollway came jobs, the opportunity to dole out contracts and political power.
The original construction bonds weren’t paid off until the 1980s. The tollway continued to issue billions in bonds to build roads and expand the agency to over 1,400 employees today.
Historical Illinois toll hikes
Base passenger tolls have been increased twice since 1973: In 1983, the price rose from 30 cents to 40 cents. In 2012 tolls rose to 75 cents each to fund the 15-year Move Illinois capital program.
That excludes the 2005 doubling of tolls for all drivers paying cash as part of the state’s Congestion Relief Plan.
As part of that plan, commercial tolls more than doubled for most types of trucks traveling during rush hour. Commercial tolls had previously been hiked to 25 cents per axel in 1983.
From 2015 to 2017, commercial tolls increased again, climbing 60% over 2014 prices to help fund Move Illinois. That included a 40% increase in 2015, followed by 10% increases the next two years.
Commercial tolls were then indexed to inflation starting in 2018, leading to automatic increases at the beginning of each new year.
Tollway’s record-high net revenue
Increases have allowed toll revenues to outpace the cost of maintaining and operating the roads every year for more than half a century.
From 1973 to 2024, the tollway collected nearly $20.7 billion more in tolls than it needed for maintenance and other expenses apart from major capital projects.
Those costs include day-to-day maintenance of roadway infrastructure, operating tolls and safety systems, paying staff and supporting agency functions.
Tollway considers $1 billion tax hike
Despite drivers having already paid tens of billions of dollars in tolls since the roads were supposed to be free, and the agency collecting more revenue than ever before, the tollway board could implement a $1 billion toll tax hike.
Such a hike would raise tolls for passenger drivers by 45 cents, driving the average passenger toll to about $1.24 starting next year, based on 2024 data. If adopted, it would be the largest passenger toll tax hike in Illinois’ history.
Commercial tolls would increase by 30%. That means those drivers would end up paying about $1.73 more per toll, bringing the average up to $7.50.
The average tollway driver already hits about two of these toll plazas each day, according to agency reports.
The proposal also would automatically hike tolls with inflation every two years with a 4% cap per year starting in 2029. Final review and approval of these higher fares and automatic increases rests with the tollway’s 11-member board, according to the tollway spokesperson.
This proposed hike and increases every two years not only means higher costs, it also carries safety concerns, said Hart of the Illinois Trucking Association. At the very least, he said, the tollway board should phase in the change to give companies time to adjust.
“The Illinois tollway is built to hold commercial motor vehicles, and what we have always advocated for are policies that don’t incentivize commercial motor vehicles to seek local routes when they could or should be on the Illinois tollway,” Hart said.
The possible toll hikes are a reward to labor unions for supporting the bailout for Chicago-area mass transit. The proposed toll hike was the price for labor union support of the bill, which redirects about $1 billion a year from the Road Fund, according to Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch.
“It was important to them, if they were going to agree to give up almost $1 billion dollars a year from the Road Fund, that they can point to something that will help keep working people working and keep roads getting repaired,” Welch told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Despite the agency reporting record 2024 toll revenue, the proposed toll hikes are about keeping up with costs, according to an Illinois Tollway spokesperson.
“Toll rate adjustments considered by the Tollway Board are intended to keep pace with rising costs and support critical system upgrades and maintenance as part of the Tollway’s next capital plan,” the spokesperson said in an email.
“The tollway is currently working to ensure the Tollway’s new capital plan is both comprehensive and intentional — a plan designed not only to deliver meaningful benefits to our customers but to strengthen our entire region.”
Current tollway capital projects include the $15 billion Move Illinois Capital program, which is entering year 15, and the $2 billion Bridging the Future capital program, which is entering its second year of an estimated seven.
$3.3 billion remains unused from road fund
While lawmakers proposed this toll tax hike to replace nearly $1.1 billion they plan to redirect from transportation revenue to the Regional Transportation Authority, research shows over $3.3 billion remains unused in the Road Fund.
That surplus was largely generated by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s automatic gas tax hikes introduced in 2019, which have driven Illinois gas taxes to No. 3 in the nation. As a result, road fund revenues outpaced roadway spending every year from 2020 to 2025. Now, Pritzker wants to add similar automatic increases to toll prices.
Illinois drivers already pay nearly $1.8 billion more to get around than they did before Pritzker took office. The average driver has paid $1,505 more just in higher gas taxes and registration fees since 2019.
Who decides on the toll hike?
The final decision on whether to approve any toll hike rests with the 11-member tollway board appointed by Pritzker. Two board members hold leadership positions at labor unions that work on large-scale road projects. Another works for such a union.
By law, before voting the board must hold public meetings in each county the proposed toll hikes would affect.
If the board approve the hikes, it must publicize any changes at least 30 days before they take effect. That means Dec. 2 is the latest the board could approve hikes to take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
With tollway revenues at all-time highs and no explicit reason for taxing drivers more every two years for the foreseeable future beyond rewarding political allies, it’s time residents weigh in.
You can tell the tollway board to reject the tax hike. Tell them here: