Tollway board votes to impose 57% hike on cars, 30% for trucks, and there’s more to come

A massive rate increase in 2027 with additional hikes every two years sailed through the Illinois tollway board of directors Wednesday.

The 8-0 vote means I-PASS passenger vehicle tolls will rise from an average of 7 cents to 11 cents a mile, or 57%, beginning Jan. 1. Truckers will see a 30% jump.

That will be followed by inflation-related increases every two years tied to the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers. The CPI will be capped at 8% every two years, with a maximum CPI of 4% every year, officials said.

The increase is part of the tollway’s 15-year, $26.5 billion Driving Connections capital program, which officials promise will reduce congestion, improve mobility and create jobs.

“Drivers rely on the tollway system every day, and their expectations are clear — they want a system that is safe, a system that is reliable and prepared for the future,” Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse said. “They want the tollway to address congestion, and they want the tollway to plan ahead rather than wait until infrastructure fails” or becomes a problem.

Numerous drivers have said the higher rates will force them to pay hundreds more a year at a time when other costs like groceries are skyrocketing.

“This massive one-time increase could have been delayed until the economy improves or at a minimum rejected in light of the fact that the tollway has seen its income increase at or in excess of the rate of inflation each of the last several years,” said Bill Morris, a former tollway director and Waukegan mayor.

Trucking executives were aghast, noting that unlike passenger vehicle owners, they’ve already been paying cost-of-living increases since 2018.

“It's going to be crippling to the consumer,” said Mike Moran, president of Elk Grove Village-based Moran Transportation Corp. “The cost of goods is going to increase in a market that already has high inflation and safety is going to decline as trucks avoid the tollway.”

Tollway Director Scott Paddock noted that the tollway’s rates are “on the lower echelon” compared to its peers.

“We don’t take this decision lightly when we’re going to increase our tolls, but I think we understand the history of this agency with the positive impact of its projects and look forward to embarking on this next one,” he said.

Tollway Chair Arnie Rivera thanked the agency’s staff and Gov. JB Pritzker, who appoints the board, for “his leadership and his belief in the agency to develop and execute a plan of this scale.”

But following an appearance at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Pritzker attempted to distance himself from the tollway's decision.

“That was something voted on by the tollway authority,” the governor said.

His Republican rival in the Nov. 3 general election, former state Sen. Darren Bailey, called the indexing plan “taxation on auto-pilot,” at a July hearing in Aurora.

Independent candidate Collin Corbett of Palatine said Wednesday that a “political deal forced onto working families during an economic crunch is unacceptable.”

He blamed the landmark transit reform and funding bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly last year and signed by Pritzker. The bill, which took effect June 1, shifts some funds that would typically be used for road projects to public transit. A provision allowing the tollway to raise rates was included to offset objections from unions who opposed diverting road funds.

Rates that are 75 cents for cars now will jump by 45 cents to $1.20 at many toll plazas in 2027. However, the I-94 Waukegan Toll Plaza rate of $1.40 will spike to $2.25, and a $1.90 toll on I-355 at Spring Creek will be $3.05, as examples.

For a commuter who drives on I-90 from Barrington to work downtown and back 50 weeks a year, it means paying $950, up from $600 this year.

Drivers can use a tollway trip calculator to estimate their 2027 rates, but that’s not available for the biennial increases.

If a 6% increase over two years was applied to the $950 paid by the Barrington commuter, it could grow to around $1,000 in 2029, or $400 more than in 2026, a preliminary analysis found.

For the last four years, average annual inflation ranged from 2.7% to 3.5%, tollway officials noted.

Some major projects in the 15-year plan include $3.1 billion for interchange improvements at I-88 and I-355 and reconfiguring the Tri-State interchange with Irving Park Road in Schiller Park, which currently offers access only to and from the north. The tollway plans to build a full interchange at a cost of $132 million.

Batavia City Administrator Laura Newman said the capital program is vital to economic development and quality of life for residents who use the tollway system.

“I don’t necessarily see these as tollway projects,” she said. “I see these as investments in the community.”

Tribune reporter Jeremy Gorner contributed from Springfield.

mpyke@dailyherald.com