Tollway overkill

The Daily Herald is making the proverbial mountain from a molehill with its "expose" about $152,000 in overpayments resulting from certain Illinois Tollway collection machines not giving change. Why not look at the matter from the perspective that the tollway authority invested what was probably a good chunk of money into installing state-of-the-art collection devices that improve operational efficiency while also giving motorists who don't have transponders or exact change an option to use credit cards, resulting, according to the Herald's editorial, in a $248,000 reduction of overpayments?

In my view, our tollway system is, on balance, one of the better-maintained and more innovative components of state infrastructure and it stacks up pretty well against other tollway systems I've seen.

It seems fashionable these days to find fault with everything connected with Illinois governance. It's true there is much to criticize and much reform needed, but does everything have to be viewed through a negative lens? Reporting the over collection is an acceptable part of the newspaper's obligation to inform. Having a headline editorial about a $152,000 item in a $696 million budget is overkill in my opinion.

Bob Dohn

Hoffman Estates