Tollway to update plazas for barrier-free travel

Illinois tollway drivers will experience fewer barriers and more streamlined trips this year as the agency updates its toll plazas.

The tollway switched to a permanent all-electronic toll collection system in 2021 during COVID-19. But areas with barriers and canopies that enabled paying manually at a number of toll plazas still remain.

Last week, tollway directors approved two contracts for engineering and construction management to remove outdated collection infrastructure along the system and open it up to through traffic.

The agency’s top priorities are six toll plazas along I-88 in DuPage and Kane counties at Highland Avenue, Freedom Drive, Winfield Road, Farnsworth Avenue, Route 31 and Orchard Road.

The tollway is addressing those locations first because they’re “where we need the most repairs done or where we get traffic congestion that exceeds those in other areas,” Chief Engineer Manar Nashif said.

“It’ll improve traffic flow especially where we have a lot of congestion,” and saves money by not investing in repairs for unneeded infrastructure, he noted.

Nashif said he expected improvements should start this year.

The agency first introduced I-PASS toll electronic collection on a limited basis in 1993. The program was expanded as the agency gradually switched from barriers, lanes and toll collectors to an open-road system with gantries on its mainline by 2006.

But the agency still offered manual payment options, most recently with machines, until the pandemic.

Last week, tollway directors approved one contract for design engineering with Chicago-based US Services for up to $4.5 million, and another for construction management with the Lincolnshire-based Accurate Group Inc., which was not to exceed $4 million.