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In Buffalo Grove, higher tolls win support if Route 53 is extended

More than 200 residents and elected officials crowded into the Buffalo Grove village hall for a standing-room-only hearing Tuesday night on the tollway’s proposed capital plan and toll hikes, and Route 53 was on their minds.

Many asked the toll board to consider including expanding Route 53, a proposal that has been talked about in Lake County for several years.

Bobby Gaylor, owner of Gaylor Excavating in Ringwood, said the state bought his parents’ house in the 1970s with the intention of using their land to expand Route 53, and it still has not happened.

“We not only need this for transportation, but we desperately need the jobs,” Gaylor said. “I want to put people back to work. I know people want to go back to work. We need 53 and we need it now.”

State Sen. Terry Link was one of several elected officials to voice his support for Route 53 expansion.

“I would plead to you that when you redo this budget, to include the development of Route 53,” Link said. “I’m a little tired of waiting.”

As the meeting began, tollway Director Bill Morris expressed his own frustrations with the roads system, saying it takes him nearly an hour to drive from his house in Grayslake to the tollway headquarters in Downers Grove. Morris has proposed an alternative plan that includes extending Route 53 and a 15-cent toll increase with a review every three years.

“We are frequently asked why this proposal and why now,” said Kristi Lafleur, executive director of the Illinois Tollway, during her presentation to the crowd before public comment. “There is a cost of doing nothing and that cost is that the Chicago region is the most congested in the country.”

State Sen. Suzi Schmidt of Lake Villa Township said her constituents tell her they understand the need to pay tolls, but not to pay more when they won’t benefit from an expanded Route 53.

While some residents said the toll increases of between 35 and 45 cents is too much too fast, others supported the toll charges as a way to fund improvements.

“Will I relish paying more in tolls? No,” said Tim Schmidt, an engineer and Palatine resident. “But I believe that the tollway program will bring substantial benefits to all of us who use the tollway system.”

“When I got my license in 1969, the tolls cost 30 cents, and now they’re 40 cents. So that’s a great deal,” said Pat Kielty, an Arlington Heights resident. “The tolls should be increased if it is fair.”

Josh Brining, executive director for CISCO, the Construction Industry Service Corp. that represents 140,000 construction workers, reiterated the need for creating jobs.

“We look at this as a win-win proposal,” Brining said. “We have to continue to invest in the future of Illinois.”

Tollway board Chairman Paula Wolff said a vote on the tollway plan could come as soon as Thursday. But Link said that would be disappointing. It’d be too fast of a turnaround after the public meetings, he said.

Vote on toll hikes to come Thursday?