Illinois Tollway Notes

[edwaleni]

Have they considered dismantling the toll booths?

Many many moons ago (roughly 25 years ago) I worked for the ISTHA as a dispatcher. One of the things that was given to us during the training was a "collection book" that had a breakdown of what each plaza (ramp and mainline) collected. I wish I knew what I did with it. But anyway, back in 1998ish, the toll authority collected over 300 million in tolls in 1 year.  Pre-COVID, they collect almost 1.38 Billion in 2019. They will not give that up anytime soon since it pays for the maintenance and upgrades of the system.

@ Hobsini,

Did you work at ISTHA when they used 1 guy in a Ford Escort to go around and pick up the coins collected from all the booths?

I seem to recall the guy put on some 250k miles plus and had the rear shocks replaced several times due to carrying the weight of the coin for so many years.

After a major audit revealed the practice, they stopped using him and went to a bonded vendor.

Since you spent a few years there, just curious if you knew the guy.

I know of that story but I never knew the guy.

I remember when they interviewed him and he said the trip he dreaded the most was going out to Dixon in the winter time. The collection cages were always nearly empty, the wind would be blowing and if it was snowing, it took forever to get there and back.

[hobsini2]

Have they considered dismantling the toll booths?

Many many moons ago (roughly 25 years ago) I worked for the ISTHA as a dispatcher. One of the things that was given to us during the training was a "collection book" that had a breakdown of what each plaza (ramp and mainline) collected. I wish I knew what I did with it. But anyway, back in 1998ish, the toll authority collected over 300 million in tolls in 1 year.  Pre-COVID, they collect almost 1.38 Billion in 2019. They will not give that up anytime soon since it pays for the maintenance and upgrades of the system.

@ Hobsini,

Did you work at ISTHA when they used 1 guy in a Ford Escort to go around and pick up the coins collected from all the booths?

I seem to recall the guy put on some 250k miles plus and had the rear shocks replaced several times due to carrying the weight of the coin for so many years.

After a major audit revealed the practice, they stopped using him and went to a bonded vendor.

Since you spent a few years there, just curious if you knew the guy.

I know of that story but I never knew the guy.

I remember when they interviewed him and he said the trip he dreaded the most was going out to Dixon in the winter time. The collection cages were always nearly empty, the wind would be blowing and if it was snowing, it took forever to get there and back.

Yeah Dixon was always a pain in the ass to dispatch vehicles to because our office/motor pool is at 355 & 88. A few years ago, while coming back from a storm chase in Iowa got a flat tire by the Dixon Toll Plaza. It took over 2 hours for the HELP truck to arrive.

[ET21]

SB 294 got a big stage shift between Wolf Rd and I-88. There is a new lane split after the original one at North Ave (1 left, 3 right). At St. Charles Rd for the right 3 lanes, the left lane joins up with the left express, the two right lanes now go onto the new bridge for I-290 East and I-88 West and merge with the I-290 E to I-294 SB ramp. You can still access I-88 from the left 2 lanes, however its looking like we are beginning to see the early stages for the new CD section.

[CtrlAltDel]

SB 294 got a big stage shift between Wolf Rd and I-88. There is a new lane split after the original one at North Ave (1 left, 3 right). At St. Charles Rd for the right 3 lanes, the left lane joins up with the left express, the two right lanes now go onto the new bridge for I-290 East and I-88 West and merge with the I-290 E to I-294 SB ramp. You can still access I-88 from the left 2 lanes, however its looking like we are beginning to see the early stages for the new CD section.

Ahhhhhh, that's what that is. I drove 290 East to 294 South on the 6th, and those lanes were not open yet, and then I drove it again on the 12th, and they were open, but I wasn't able to figure out where they were coming from by looking at either a current map or a map of the final configuration. Now it makes sense.

[3467]

The Toll way wants comments for new capital projects .
Guess what may be back. ....

[ilpt4u]

The Toll way wants comments for new capital projects .
Guess what may be back. ....

Rt 53/Lake County?

Illiana?

355->57?

I thought all those are dead

[3467]

RT 53 was mentioned in  and article in The Daily Herald . It's about the next capital program .I have a tough time posting links here but Google news Illinois Toll way and 2 articles in the last couple of days should pop up.
If there is going to be public suggestions I am sure this forum will provide them.
Mine
53
Illiana
Outer belt
Mini crosstown
US 20
US 30 spur. The 10 mile spur off 88 on page 5 of Illinois Notes
Stevenson
Ike

[ET21]

New stage change for the north-central section of 294 from last week

"Overnight Friday, October 6, lane closures will be scheduled starting at 8 p.m. on northbound I-294 between Grand Avenue and Wolf Road with traffic reduced to a single lane at times to complete the traffic shift. All lanes are scheduled to reopen by 5 a.m. on Saturday, October 7, with two lanes of northbound traffic shifted to the left with a work zone on the right. The two additional lanes of northbound traffic will remain on the southbound side in a counterflow configuration. Traffic is scheduled to remain in this configuration through summer of 2024. "

[Plutonic Panda]

The Toll way wants comments for new capital projects .
Guess what may be back. ....

Rt 53/Lake County?

Illiana?

355->57?

I thought all those are dead

Hopefully all of them are revived.

[Revive 755]

The Toll way wants comments for new capital projects .
Guess what may be back. ....

I have a feeling managed lanes with even higher tolls.

[SSOWorld]

The Toll way wants comments for new capital projects .
Guess what may be back. ....

Hypotenuse?

[ilpt4u]

The Toll way wants comments for new capital projects .
Guess what may be back. ....

Hypotenuse?

I almost brought up that excellent proposal...

[3467]

How could I have not listed it.

[edwaleni]

From a ISTHA perspective, I guess I would want to see the following:

IL-390 US-20 (Lake Street) to IL-59
I-80 (near Morris) to I-65 in Indiana (Illiana)
Carbondale to the Metro East direct route (vs the planned gerrymander by IDOT)
US-20 (Freeport to Peosta IA) with new (proper) Mississippi Bridge south of Spanish Mines.

Not in scope:

I say avoid IL-53 for now. It's been too soon since the last review. The locals need to suffer more years of traffic jams to realize they created the sprawl themselves, not the highway.
US-67 from Jerseyville to Galesburg (or Macomb). Any 4 lane in this area is dubious in value as it is and dates back to a vision laid out in the early 1960's.
While IL-336 is dead between Peoria and Macomb I did consider some kind of facility via Canton to Macomb to connect to a future update to US-67. The toll would have to be pretty low however.

I am curious how some states are able to build non-connected, medium distance toll roads, but Illinois doesn't. The new Fox River bridge in Kane County will require I-Pass, but is not under ISTHA.

With electronic tolling becoming prevalent nationally, I would think Illinois could take advantage of it by building more short or intermediate distance toll roads.

[3467]

The Tollway did study the 24 extension and the Chicago KC. They were both big money losers.
20 however makes sense if they could get all of it. And they could do a 188 spur if they got more of 88.

I think Illinia plus an Outer belt to 90
And a mini crosstown from Kennedy to Stevenson. Aim for a 4 lane with 60000 s day and a high toll. Provides a North South and diverts from the crazy heavy downtown strech.
And the article specifically mentioned 53 and the Bears . Revive the thread from fictional.
And of course I am sure they want the news lanes on the IKe and Stevenson
Also agree on Elgin Ohare.
I Also would look at the Ike Stevenson connector on some rail lines near Western Ave.

[The Ghostbuster]

I kind of doubt any new toll roads will be built after IL 390 and Interstate 490 are completed. Maybe more toll lanes could be added to Chicago's freeway system.

[3467]

I didn't think so either until I read the Daily Herald article.

[Quimby]

My top choice would be to revive the 53 extension north of Lake Cook Rd, but I agree with the poster above that it's too soon after the most recent failure.  Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods are rich and powerful enough to send any new attempt down to defeat yet again.  Maybe someday in the distant future if the ROW isn't sold off.  So, here's my wish list:

- Rte 120 tollway (de-linked from the broader 53 project) from I-94 to US 12. 
- Extend IL 390 to North Ave/Lake St. (beyond that, i can't imagine it ever being extended all the way to Rte. 59)
- Tolled lanes on Stevenson and Ike
- Illiana (the current I-80 from the 294 junction to the IN Toll Road junction is just brutal)

Someone above mentioned extending 355 to I-57, but is there land still available for that?  Certainly not at the current 355 terminus at I-80. 

[ilpt4u]

My top choice would be to revive the 53 extension north of Lake Cook Rd, but I agree with the poster above that it's too soon after the most recent failure.  Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods are rich and powerful enough to send any new attempt down to defeat yet again.  Maybe someday in the distant future if the ROW isn't sold off.  So, here's my wish list:

- Rte 120 tollway (de-linked from the broader 53 project) from I-94 to US 12. 
- Extend IL 390 to North Ave/Lake St. (beyond that, i can't imagine it ever being extended all the way to Rte. 59)
- Tolled lanes on Stevenson and Ike
- Illiana (the current I-80 from the 294 junction to the IN Toll Road junction is just brutal)

Someone above mentioned extending 355 to I-57, but is there land still available for that?  Certainly not at the current 355 terminus at I-80.

Without knowing who owns what property, the only corridor I see possible to get south of I-80 is at Gougar Rd. Some warehouses and a church would have to go bye-bye, and it would take some snaking around Lincoln-Way West HS, but that is about the only even theoretical corridor off I-80

Due south at the existing 355/80 interchange would only be possible taking out multiple subdivisions or tunnelling, neither of which I see happening. A short I-80 multiplex west and south was considered a possibility at one point, to then continue southeast towards I-57, theoretically near Peotone or so

[Revive 755]

Depending on what happens with the South Suburban/Peotone Airport, an upgrade/extension of IL 394 could be added.  There might even be enough issues with IL 394 already to justify handing it over and letting ISTHA add interchanges. 

Maybe tie the IL 394 upgrades into an shorter Illiana too.  There also seems to be an awful lot of truck traffic already using the IL 17/IN 2 corridor (with the newish truck stop at Grant Park being fairly busy the other day for not being near an interstate).

[3467]

That's where the new EV factory is going to be and IL 17 was the original location of the Illiana in the original supplemental freeway corridors.
Also instead of full US 20 I might suggest just a Galena Bypass as a test along with the 188 spur. No big risk for them.

[edwaleni]

My top choice would be to revive the 53 extension north of Lake Cook Rd, but I agree with the poster above that it's too soon after the most recent failure.  Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods are rich and powerful enough to send any new attempt down to defeat yet again.  Maybe someday in the distant future if the ROW isn't sold off.  So, here's my wish list:

- Rte 120 tollway (de-linked from the broader 53 project) from I-94 to US 12. 
- Extend IL 390 to North Ave/Lake St. (beyond that, i can't imagine it ever being extended all the way to Rte. 59)
- Tolled lanes on Stevenson and Ike
- Illiana (the current I-80 from the 294 junction to the IN Toll Road junction is just brutal)

Someone above mentioned extending 355 to I-57, but is there land still available for that?  Certainly not at the current 355 terminus at I-80.

As for US-20 (Elgin-OHare) west to Elgin proper, IDOT owns all the ROW as far IL-59 except for the commercial properties at Oak Street in Bartlett to make it a limited access highway with frontage roads. So it isn't an issue of enough land or ROW at this point.

West of IL-59, at the last public hearing 20 some years ago 3 commercial property owners were pretty noisy about the whole thing.  2 car dealers on the north side and Villa Olivia resort on the south where it meets Naperville Road.

Also the residents and a local fire district for the adjoining subdivisions wanted a guaranteed east-west frontage road which IDOT said would require more taking of private property.

Since IDOT couldn't get funding, the issue has been pretty low key.

My take is make it a tollroad as far west as the CN railroad overpass. IDOT wants to redo the whole Villa Street/Bluff City section anyway.

Since IL-390 is already connected to the toll "grid", I assume this add on would be easier, more manageable and fits into IDOT's long term goals for US-20.

That's as much as I will go into it otherwise it gets too fictional.

[edwaleni]

That's where the new EV factory is going to be and IL 17 was the original location of the Illiana in the original supplemental freeway corridors.
Also instead of full US 20 I might suggest just a Galena Bypass as a test along with the 188 spur. No big risk for them.

For the I-188 spur are you talking about US-30 to Clinton, Iowa?

[3467]

Yes. I would call it fictional but the tollway is openly talking 53 and asking for suggestions so let's give them some.

[JoePCool14]

My top 5 suggestions for the Tollway to pursue, if I'm understanding all this, in no particular order:

   
• Illiana. Would help to relieve a bottleneck on one of the nation's most important highway corridors and provide a desperately needed alternative to the Borman.
• Something in Lake County. Anything. It continues to be absurd that an area that is as developed if not more developed than other areas in Chicagoland only has one proper highway (I-94). Someone else mentioned pursuing IL-120 separate from IL-53, I like that idea. It might also push the ball further on a proper western alternate to I-94 in Lake County.
• IL-394. Would be a great tie-in/part of the Illiana. Would also be a relatively smaller task than some of these other ideas.
• Tolled lanes for the Eisenhower and/or Stevenson. I don't have to suffer through using the Stevenson, but even I can tell 6 lanes is inadequate.
• US-12. An "out there" idea no doubt, but as an alternative to the 53 extension, let's get some serious improvements on US-12. The fact that it's only four-laned and the ridiculous number of signals show that the road has issues.

As for the Galena Bypass, I hesitate to think that would work. If you tolled something like that, I'm not sure you'd get enough revenue to justify its construction. The existing highway is bad, but I think drivers would find it's also "good enough" when compared to a tolled route.

Actually, I just had another idea. I've thought about submitting a suggestion to the Tollway about this, but I think they need to consider looking into ramp metering. Certain interchanges I see just dump cars onto the highway and it really isn't great during rush hour. It's not needed everywhere, but at certain locations (i.e., Dempster Ave on-ramps on I-294).