Over 100 people, including area residents, labor union members and politicians, packed into the Prisco Community Center in Aurora Wednesday to discuss the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority’s first proposed passenger toll hike since 2012.
Some area residents, who said they take the tollway to work, medical care and other locations, worried they would not be able to afford increased tolls while other costs such as gas continue to rise.
A few of those residents were concerned their feedback would not influence final decisions.
Other residents, along with Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog and around a dozen labor union members, who mostly represented Operating Engineers Local 150, spoke in support of the toll rate increases because the proposed hikes would fund tollway improvements.
One area resident said he supported the proposal because it did not put the burden on his own taxes but on tollway users.
“Our transportation network must keep pace with the demands of our residents, our businesses and our regional economy,” said Pierog.
The rate hikes, if approved by the Illinois Tollway board, would help fund a 15-year, $26.5 billion capital plan that officials said could alleviate some traffic issues, improve roads and fuel economic development.
Under the proposal, passenger vehicle tolls would increase by roughly 45 cents for I-Pass users and by 30% for commercial vehicle I-Pass users beginning Jan. 1, 2027. Toll rates would also be adjusted every other year to account for inflation beginning in 2029, officials said.
Illinois Tollway officials heard mixed reactions to the proposed rate hikes Wednesday during the over two-hour meeting in Aurora.
DeKalb resident Dana Meadowcraft worried about affording both gas prices and toll hikes. Aurora resident Ron Schopp worried about affording the tolls on the way to his medical treatments at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital.
Aurora resident Fran Shaw said she wanted to know how the toll hikes would impact truck drivers and other area businesses that utilized tollways. She also said she felt there are not enough mechanisms in place for feedback on the proposals.
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“Can anyone tell me you’re not going to approve this?” Shaw said. “I’m not really sure why I’m even here. You’re going to go through with it.”
Some residents who opposed the proposed rate hikes Wednesday said they remember the phrase “toll free in ’73,” when the state promised to pay off 187 miles of tollways and turn the roads into freeways by 1973.
Bob Kaplow, Dundee resident and a retired engineer, said he remembered when the tollways first opened and said he opposed a toll increase.
He said he took issue with the hearings being scheduled during the middle of the day, which he said could make it hard for working people to attend.
“The people who can’t afford these increases are at work making money and can’t be here to speak out against this,” Kaplow said.
He also took issue with the number of people and labor unions speaking in support of the increases who were in a position to benefit from the jobs created by new construction along the tollway.
But the more than a dozen labor union members who spoke in support of the proposal said tollway construction projects would bring important local jobs that would modernize roads and support development in the area.
“This program is not only about roads and bridges, it is about creating reliable, family-supporting jobs while building infrastructure and will serve Illinois for decades,” said Brez Hoffman, business representative for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150.
John O’Neill, an Aurora resident of nearly 40 years, said he supported the tollway’s proposal because he said transportation needs to keep up with the booming community and economic development he said he has witnessed in the area.
“I’ve watched the community develop with the transportation improvements that have been provided by this agency,” he said.
The proposed tollway capital program includes a $3.53 billion investment in the Reagan Memorial Tollway, which runs through Aurora, which a few speakers at the Aurora meeting noted is commonly used by area residents.
The proposed improvements to the Reagan Memorial Tollway include a new access point on the western portion of I-88, reconstruction on the corridor from Route 56 to Route 251 and rehabilitation that widens key segments between the Aurora Toll Plaza and the Eisenhower Expressway, according to the Illinois Tollway website.
Overall, Illinois Tollway officials said the funds would be used for projects that improve interchanges, renew aging infrastructure, upgrade technology and customer facilities, reduce congestion, repair pavement, widen shoulders, rebuild bridges and other road improvements.
The proposal for the tollways comes on the heels of the state’s landmark public transit funding bill, which called for the same toll increases. The transit funding bill, which took effect June 1, diverts some funds that would typically be used for road projects to public transit, which the proposed toll hikes are intended to offset.
Tollway officials said Wednesday that residents can submit feedback on the proposal through Aug. 3 on the Illinois Tollway website.
Tollway officials also said that all community feedback will be documented and published to the public before the board makes its final decision on the proposal.
Drivers can also use the Tollway’s online trip planner to estimate their new tolls, the agency said.