Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Illinois Tollway board voted unanimously during its August 19 meeting to approve Driving Connections, the $26.5 billion, 15-year capital plan, and the rate adjustments that will help fund it.
Starting January 1, 2027, passenger car drivers “can expect to pay 45 cents more per toll . . . and, for the first time ever, automatic inflation-adjusted increases every other year after that.” The January increase in commercial vehicle tolls will be 30 percent. The biennial increases will begin in 2029 and are capped at eight percent over each two-year period.
The Tollway hasn’t increased rates for passenger cars since 2012.
The newspaper notes, “Even with the proposed toll rate increases, the toll rates for passenger vehicles will remain among the lowest in the nation, the tollway’s chief financial officer, Cathy Williams, told the board. After the hike, a passenger vehicle with an I-Pass will pay an average of 11 cents per mile, below the national average of 16 cents per mile, she said.”