Tollway project pushed through with less scrutiny, public input

The Illinois tollway's $1.8 billion Green Lanes project sped its way to approval without the same public input and detailed analyses as other construction projects, records indicate.

Last September, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority administrators were considering three plans to improve the system: a $1.8 billion option with carpool or Green Lanes and new interchanges, a $5.8 billion concept that included work on the Elgin O'Hare Expressway, and a $7.5 billion alternative that involved widening I-90 and extending the Elgin O'Hare.

On Oct. 15, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced the agency would act on the $1.8 billion option - even as federal agents were gathering evidence leading to his corruption arrest, including taped conversations where he dangles the construction program in front of a highway contractor in exchange for campaign cash, authorities allege.

Now the building program known as Congestion Relief 2 is on hold and state lawmakers will conduct a hearing Wednesday into tollway operations. The hearing, organized by Sens. Susan Garrett and Jeff Schoenberg, will focus on the financial woes of the tollway's former oases operator and on Congestion Relief 2.

Tollway officials stand behind the project, saying stakeholders and board members were consulted and an in-depth study of the Green Lanes couldn't be conducted until the plan was voted on.

"Ultimately, despite the need for all these projects, the program was built on what the tollway could afford. At the time, $1.8 billion was seen as the limit to the tollway's bonding capacity," spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said in an e-mail.

Both senators contend the construction plan was rushed and characterized by decisions made behind closed doors.

"The issues revolve around the suspicious fast-tracking of the original Green Lanes proposal and whether all the necessary facts were considered in the decision-making or if there was a final outcome that was predetermined and then the details were to be filled in later," Schoenberg said.

Garrett called the tollway "a cash machine," explaining, "They bring in money all day long, so it's incumbent on them to make the right decisions with that money and with a process that everyone is informed about."

The tollway's recently appointed leader, Chairwoman Paula Wolff, said she and new board members need to learn more about the issue before commenting.

Out of the blue?

Here's a look at what tollway documents show about the decision-making of officials.

In December 2007, the tollway authority agreed to develop a new capital program.

Speed appears to have been a major factor in the process. An e-mail dated April 2, 2008, from the tollway's consulting engineers, states that the agency hoped to announce a new capital program in May 2008. Then, a draft plan dated July 30, 2008, assumes an August 2008 announcement by Blagojevich.

The name Green Lanes appears to have been coined at the last minute by a tollway staff member in an internal e-mail dated Oct. 9, 2008.

McGinnis said that "discussions with the governor's office were ongoing and resulted in analysis and development of a variety of options for consideration. It was not until October that support from the tollway board and governor's office was secured."

"Board members were consulted and briefed throughout the process," she added.

However, the various alternatives under consideration such as the $7.5 billion plan weren't subject to public hearings or discussed by the full board.

For Garrett, the $1.8 billion plan came as a shock.

"All of a sudden, they pulled a rabbit out of a hat," she said.

In addition to $400 million for the Green Lanes, the plan included $1 billion for an interchange at I-294 and I-57 and an improved interchange at I-290/Route 53 and I-90, and $400 million for unspecified interchanges.

Truckers - a major tollway constituency - also were caught by surprise.

"That thing was sprung on everybody," Mid-West Truckers Association Executive Vice President Don Schaefer said. The process was not inclusive as the agency's 2005 Congestion Relief 1 plan to widen and rebuild its roads, he added.

The agency held 12 public hearings in nine days on Congestion Relief 2, then tollway directors voted to approve it Nov. 20 - the only time the plan was discussed in public by the full board.

There appears to have been little doubt among officials that the $1.8 billion plan would pass. A tollway proposal Nov. 7, 2008 - nearly two weeks before the board's approval - to the Federal Highway Administration states that the first of the Green Lanes would be operational in 2010.

The arrest of Blagojevich Dec. 9 and allegations he tried to extort money from a contractor on Sept. 18 - during the period the $7.5 billion option was on the table - cast a shadow over the project. Blagojevich told the highway executive he would announce a $1.5 billion road program soon and might authorize $6 billion in construction later, authorities say.

Blagojevich has pleaded innocent, and the tollway said the ex-governor did not influence decisions.

But Blagojevich was aware of the process and sanctioned spending $5 million on feasibility studies in February. One engineering consultant hired by the tollway for Congestion Relief 2, HNTB Corp. - a national firm - gave $5,000 to Friends of Blagojevich in August 2008.

Victoria's secret

Although officials called the interchanges at I-294 and I-57 and I-90 and I-290/Route 53 "crucial," the Daily Herald reviewed documents provided by the tollway through Freedom of Information Act requests but could not find any rating system that explained why they were chosen above others or how the agency set its priorities.

In comparison, the Illinois Department of Transportation, which is deciding on alternative locations for a western bypass around O'Hare International Airport, has held extensive public meetings on the options and provided a ranking system that includes the cost, environmental impact, effect on travel times, properties affected and socioeconomic effects.

The Congrestion Relief 2 plan "seems flimsy in direct comparison with the exhaustive data and analysis that accompanies IDOT projects," Schoenberg said. "It covers as much as a Victoria's Secret negligee."

The tollway did conduct a number of cost studies, including the options of raising passenger vehicle and truck tolls. The idea of increasing tolls on passenger vehicles apparently was abandoned in late August, but tolls will go up for truckers in 2015.

McGinnis said a rating system is not in place, but noted that a project such as the I-57 interchange was a well-known, much-needed improvement.

"High-level analysis for all of the proposed projects was done and is reflected in the cost analysis provided for project consideration," she stated. "Project costs reflect not only material costs based on tollway and industry estimates, but also take into consideration property acquisition and environmental costs."

The tollway did not perform a detailed study of carpooling that looked into options such as elevated lanes.

Instead, officials said they would place the Green Lanes on existing inside lanes of the heaviest used segments of the Tri-State, Jane Addams, I-88 and I-355 tollways.

The proposal to take up an existing lane of traffic for the program frustrated numerous motorists because the agency has spent years widening its toll roads from three to four lanes, only to pose the possibility of giving the extra lane to carpoolers once the work is done.

McGinnis said the agency couldn't have spent money to research the carpool lanes without approval from the governor or board, but once directors voted in favor, the board authorized staff to begin an in-depth look at the issue.

Although the environmental advantages of carpooling were emphasized by Blagojevich and tollway officials on Oct. 15, 2008, empirical data on the issue seems to be lacking. In an Oct. 16 e-mail, a tollway attorney asks, "Have we collected research on the traffic/emissions impact of high-occupancy toll lanes? Is there any definitive survey?"

A tollway engineer responds, "I've pulled some of the research from other states and can share. (There is) nothing conclusive about air-quality benefits."

The agency did look at the experience of Minnesota switching from free carpool lanes to high-occupancy toll lanes along I-394 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The state studied the issue and held public hearings throughout 2002, and it wasn't approved until 2003 by the state legislature.

<p class="News"><b>Findings</b></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">A Daily Herald review of Illinois Tollway documents obtained through FOI requests offers a glimpse into how officials settled on the controversial $1.8 billion Green Lanes construction program.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• The plan was unveiled Oct. 15, 2008, with an announcement by ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But e-mails and reports show the agency had hoped for an earlier rollout in May, providing only a six-month time frame.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• The phrase "Green Lanes" appears to have been coined just six days before the public learned about the project.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• The agency conducted limited analyses of the carpooling plan.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• Officials considered numerous other projects, including a $7.5 million construction program that involved extending the Elgin O'Hare Expressway east but those options were never subject to public hearings or discussed by the full board.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• The only time the full tollway board talked about the Green Lanes plan was in November, when it was approved.</p>