Should tollways trade historic names for sponsors?
SPRINGFIELD — If everybody has a price, Illinoisans may soon find out just how much the names Jane Addams and Ronald Reagan are worth in their home state.
Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat, has proposed legislation asking the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to look into the possibility of selling the naming rights of tollways to corporate sponsors.
Tollway officials aren't big fans of the idea, so the Tostitos Tollway probably is not imminent and Reagan fans might not have to cede the honor of naming rights to a soft-drink company anytime soon.
But, Ford says, as drivers suffer through the rising cost of driving, it's probably worth studying whether the revenue from selling naming rights could somehow supplement and lower taxes on gasoline.
“When you have traffic reports, they will say Mobil Tollway or whoever has the naming rights,” Ford said. “And then that company is getting advertisement all the time.”
Tollway officials have their doubts.
Joelle McGinnis, spokeswoman for the toll authority, said it could be troublesome to alter the name of tollways after they were named for state heroes relatively recently.
“In our view, changing the names of our roadways again would not only confuse our customers, but may also alienate those who supported our efforts to honor veterans and the other local heroes for whom these roads were renamed,” she said.
The agency is looking into other ways to generate money, such as selling sponsorships for the H.E.L.P. Truck Program, toll plazas and salt domes, McGinnis said.
And the concept of leasing naming rights in the transportation world is not new and has proved to be profitable for some states.
In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority leased the naming rights to a Brooklyn subway station to Barclays for $4 million. The deal nets the city $200,000 per year for 20 years. In Oklahoma, Devon Energy Corp. committed $2 million for naming rights on the Oklahoma River ferry transportation system.
But in Illinois, the toll authority does not receive state money and is not allowed to transfer funds to the state budget, which could make it difficult for sponsorship revenue to go to gas price relief.
In the meantime, though, other lawmakers are making other attempts to get corporate logos on Illinois roads.
Lawmakers are pondering the idea of selling corporate sponsorships on license plates in an effort to boost state revenue and lower the cost for those who chose those types of plates. The legislation passed the Senate with a 57-1 vote and now moves to the House.
Texas adopted a similar measure and now has 28,000 corporate sponsored license plates on the road, which has netted the state $2.8 million.