Drivers reconsider usual routes to avoid tollway price hike

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I-88 looking eastbound is like a parking lot in both directions as Friday afternoon rush hour begins. | Jon Cunningham~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: January 27, 2012 2:25AM

Toll hikes that took effect Jan. 1, virtually doubling the cost for everyone who travels on the Illinois Tollway system, have left some Fox Valley residents plotting new ways to get to work to avoid the higher fees.

At the start of 2012, fewer drivers than usual were rolling down the toll roads. Over the comparatively balmy week after the New Year holiday, the tollway documented a 4.5 percent decrease in use of the roads relative to previous years. That didn’t surprise DuPage County Board and public transit committee member Jeff Redick, who was appointed to the Tollway Board last fall after Naperville Mayor A. George Pradel’s term was not renewed.

“We anticipated about 6 percent of a drop,” Redick said. “That coincided with the holidays.”

As the upward price shift drew near, the tollway did see an increase in its income from I-Pass accounts, which offer a chance to pay fees that are half the cash rate. According to Wendy Abrams, the Tollway’s head of communications, more than 42,000 I-Pass accounts had been opened between Nov. 1 and Wednesday. The agency also distributed nearly 127,000 new transponders in that time, a 27 percent increase over the same period a year ago, she said.

“The annualized forecast predicted a 41.8 percent increase in toll revenue in 2012 (both trucks and cars) and we saw a 45.7 percent increase,” Abrams said. “As we see additional migration to I-Pass in the coming months, we expect this revenue increase to level off.”

Roads less traveled

Area residents have been compelled to either pony up for the higher tolls or make alternate plans. Many drivers, including Heather Pontious of Naperville, believe “there’s no good alternative” if you want to try to get to work some other way.

“I work at the Kellogg plant in the area and leave at 5:30 in the morning,” Pontious said. “I don’t know as there is a good alternative to using I-355. Many of the people I talk with at the plant are very upset about the toll increase and are planning to use the side streets, but that can be annoying.”

Pontious added that she doesn’t believe there will be any tangible improvements coming from the toll increase.

Aurora resident Greg Shoger has a similar pet peeve.

“Where does the money go,” he said, also citing the lack of tollway improvements.

On a work trip to Chicago Heights, Shoger said he made the mistake of getting off on the wrong I-355 exit, and a simple U-turn cost him $1.80. Before he entered I-80, he had to dish out another $3.80.

“The (toll taker) didn’t say a word,” Shoger said. “On her booth she had handwritten a note with the tollway complaint line phone number.”

Disgruntled commuters have certainly not been silent about their disdain for the costly hikes.

Krissy Thomas travels from Aurora to the suburbs of Alsip, Blue Island, Midlothian and Markham frequently.

“It is three tolls to get there, I have altered my route to take the back roads,” she said.

But there is a downfall. Her 45 minute trip has doubled. Still, she said, “75 cents a toll is too much for me.”

Sticking
with tollway

Amanda Malmstrom said she has cut her toll costs by getting on Interstate 88 at the free Route 59 entrance, instead of at Eola Road.

“One less toll round trip for me,” the Oswego resident said.

But according to Shoger, everyone seems to have the same idea, hopping on the tollway at Route 59 to save themselves some cash.

“It’s the very last time you can get off 88 for free,” he said. “It’s always so congested.”

For Oswegoan Brandon Poker, the tolls are a small price to pay for spending less time on the road.

“(Saving) 45 minutes of my life to get home to my kids is worth $1.05,” he said. “But (I) understand that people are hurting out there.”

Mass transit appeal

Some say the added cost of using the tollways, coupled with predictions that gas prices will approach $5 per gallon later this year, might prompt increased use of the Metra train and Pace bus networks.

Currently Pace is considering the possibility of cutting routes, although a significant rise in ridership would likely prevent that.

DuPage County Board member JR McBride, chairman of DuPage’s public transit committee, suggested it may be only a matter of time before a lot more commuters leave their cars parked and hitch a ride in response to driving’s drawbacks — the sharp toll hike among them.

“You just have to wonder how many people in DuPage will start using public transportation, because is it quite an increase,” McBride said.

Redick said it will take time to gain a full picture of the higher tolls’ impact. He noted, for example, that inflated gas prices in the past have triggered temporary dips in use of the pay-to-ride roads.

Also complicating any reliable assessment of the fee hikes this year will be construction projects on Routes 59 and other area roads, which could send more drivers onto the tollways, Redick said.

“I think we need to monitor and see what the long-term impact will be ... before we have a knee-jerk reaction to it,” he said.

Correspondent David Sharos contributed to this story.