Tollway board could approve largest passenger hike, automatic increases with one vote

The proposal would raise tolls Jan. 1, with inflation-linked increases every two years after that.

The board of the Illinois Tollway next month could approve what would be the biggest increase in passenger tolls in state history.

A vote in favor would include automatic increases every other year tied to inflation. Those increases would not require board votes, according to a tollway spokesperson.

The tollway proposes raising passenger tolls by about 45 cents each and commercial tolls by 30%, starting Jan. 1, and adding the automatic increases starting in 2029.

This is for a tollway system that was supposed to become free by 1973 — more than 50 years ago. From 1973 through 2025, drivers paid at least $28 billion in Illinois tolls.

Moreover, the proposed hike comes when the system is taking in more toll revenue than ever, according to the most recently available data.

While Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently suggested the hikes necessary to maintain infrastructure, the agency has already collected more in tolls each year since 1973 than it needed to operate and maintain the system.

The toll hike is part of the tollway’s $26.5 billion Driving Connections capital plan. The plan is estimated to take 15 years to complete, but the hikes will continue long after the project is complete.

and state Sen. Bill Morris questioned whether the capital plan justified the hikes or the hikes justified the plan.

“First of all, it appears they decided to raise tolls, and then they threw this together quickly for justification,” Morris told the Daily Herald. “Some of these ‘projects’ are maintenance and one could argue not capital projects in the historic sense.”

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch said the potential toll hike was the price for labor unions support of the Chicago-area mass transit bailout last year.

“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.

The proposed automatic increases allow the tollway board to avoid justifying them to voters, similar to automatic inflationary adjustments to the gas tax introduced by Pritzker in his 2019 Rebuild Illinois plan.

Pritzker appoints the tollway board members and is himself an ex-officio member, as is the Pritzker-appointed state secretary of transportation.

The toll hikes would not only drive up the cost of travel, but the cost of everyday goods transported in the northern part of the state. Commercial toll prices are already at their highest level on record.

By law, before voting on an increase, the tollway board must hold public meetings in each county the proposed hikes would affect, according to the tollway spokesperson.

Those meetings are scheduled throughout July. The next regular tollway board meeting at which the increase could be approved is Aug. 19.

Any changes to tolls must be publicized at least 30 days before they take effect.

You can tell the tollway board to reject the increase here or attend a public meeting  and tell them in person.