Toll hike coming? Board approves hearings on potential 45-cent increase

Illinois tollway directors approved holding statewide public hearings on a proposed 45-cent rate hike impacting I-PASS customers with passenger vehicles, and unveiled a new $26.5 billion capital plan Thursday.

The proposal also would raise tolls by about 30% on trucks with I-PASS.

If the plan is approved, tolls would continue to rise every other year based on inflation, starting in 2029.

Officials stressed tolls haven't increased for about 15 years, and are lower in Illinois than in other states.

The cost per mile would be about 11 cents more and cost roughly 45 cents per toll.

The most expensive item in the 15-year capital plan, dubbed Driving Connections, is improving the congested Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355) and I-88 interchange and widening stretches of I-355 between I-55 and Army Trail Road for $6.63 billion.

Another project, costing $3.53 billion, would add a new access point on I-88 near Dixon and widen the corridor between the Aurora toll plaza and the Eisenhower Expressway.

Thirteen public hearings are scheduled in July before a possible vote Aug. 19. The proposed toll hikes would take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

The proposal follows the enactment of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act in 2025, when lawmakers approved a transit rescue bill. The legislation included a provision hiking tolls by 45 cents for cars in 2027 to fund a tollway capital program.

The tollway subsequently clarified that, according to state law, any capital plan and related toll changes are subject to approval by its board of directors.

The spike in commercial vehicles has prompted pushback from trucking industry leaders, who pointed out they already pay incremental increases annually.

The board last voted for a toll hike in 2011, which nearly doubled rates.