Aurora mayor scrutinizing Tollway's struggling oases

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner is another recruit to the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority marking a one-year milestone.

He now heads a committee examining the controversial oases. The seven rest stops have been hit with vacancies and foreclosure proceedings against the private company that ran them - Wilton Partners.

Wilton entered into a 25-year lease deal with the tollway in 2002 to rebuild and operate the oases, but it ran into financial problems leading to lender iStar Financial initiating foreclosure proceedings. On Aug. 25, the lease will be auctioned off.

Weisner said it's likely the lease will be bought by iStar Financial, which has been acting as the oases manager.

The next step is to figure out how the oases can be run successfully, given the changing nature of users. The rest stops aren't the dining destination they once were and the rural areas that surrounded them now are mainly suburban. And with I-PASS, users can easily exit and enter the toll roads.

"At each exit, there's a 7-Eleven and a Walgreens," Weisner said. "The whole game has changed a lot and it's our job to read the tea leaves and to try and mold the oases in a way that best suits our users."

One of those ways might be to offer more amenities for truckers, who make up a significant portion of tollway customers, Weisner said.

Asked about rooting out ethics issues at the agency, Weisner said, "I think probably there's a few rocks we've not looked under yet because we don't know they're there. But we've come a long way.

"It's unfortunate about the various political overtones and sometimes in the past political influence. But by and large the employees at the tollway have executed their jobs well."