Illinois Tollway

Highway to heavenThe highway renewal program being undertaken by the Illinois Tollway promises increased capacity and a better driving experience for the Midwest, Ruari McCallion learns from Paul Kovacs. When General Dwight D. Eisenhower came back from Europe after World War II, he recognized the importance of a modern highway system as a means to protect the country and to facilitate economic prosperity.  As president, Eisenhower was able to deliver the vision. The 1950s and ÔÇÖ60s were the boom times in new highway construction in the US, but the drive lasted well into the 1980s. Then it largely stopped.ÔÇ£There had been no new road on our system for 20 years,ÔÇØ says Paul Kovacs, chief engineer of the Illinois Tollway. No new roads, but the expansion of Chicago into new suburbs has made the need for an effective connection to the highways pressing. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve recently extended the Tollway network 12 miles into Will County, an area southwest of Chicago that has experienced tremendous growth in the suburban population; there was a clear need to improve transportation.ÔÇØ But isnÔÇÖt road building yesterdayÔÇÖs solution? What about alternatives?ÔÇ£The Tollway is very forward thinking and is actively considering partnerships and new transportation alternatives, such as multi-use lanes, bus lanes and rapid transit routes,ÔÇØ says Kovacs. ÔÇ£We recognize we canÔÇÖt keep building additional lanes to meet the traffic demand.ÔÇØBut there are times when additional capacity is the only solution. The 286 miles of tollway routes that make up the Illinois Tollway systemÔÇöTri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80), Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) and the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355)ÔÇöwere designed and largely constructed after the signing in 1953 of the Toll Highway Act by the governor of Illinois. That gave the State the ability to create roads and collect tolls on them, and those tolls stayed at the same level for the past 23 years. The Illinois Tollway is a not-for-profit operation, and all the toll revenues are used on maintenance and repair; they donÔÇÖt find their way into the State treasury. But a system designed 50 years ago, for just over 61,000 vehicles a day, is going to find itself creaking when subjected to 1.4 million a day. Journeys at peak hours can seem endless; goods are delayed, people are late for appointments. The cost to the economy of congestion runs into billions of dollars every year. After 50 years, the Illinois Tollway system is ripe for renewalÔÇöand thatÔÇÖs what itÔÇÖs getting, in a $6.3 billion capital program begun in 2004 and scheduled to have delivered most of its improvements by the end of 2009. ItÔÇÖs designed to increase capacity and greatly improve traffic flow. One of the first areas Kovacs and his team turned their attention to was the tolling system itself, and the costs of running it.ÔÇ£We embraced electronic toll collection and removed barrier collection in the first two years of the capital program,ÔÇØ says Kovacs. ÔÇ£Using electronic collection is easier to administer and requires fewer toll collectors, so it saves on labor costs. Those who enrolled in the I-PASS program saw no increase in rates; those who elect to pay cash pay double, because it costs more to collect and administer.ÔÇØ I-PASS has achieved more than 80 percent average daily participation and a dramatic improvement in travel time. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve opened all the plazas so that drivers with I-PASS can travel through them at highway speeds without stopping or delay.ÔÇØ The greatest source of damage to the pavement is heavy commercial vehicles. ÔÇ£Truck traffic determines the life of the pavement, so weÔÇÖve increased tolls for commercial traffic. As with the cash-paying customers, itÔÇÖs fair that commercial vehicles also pay more because it costs more to serve them,ÔÇØ Kovacs says. I-PASS first appeared in 1993 and initially required users to stop, just like cash users. However, through the years, select toll-collection lanes at all toll plazas were dedicated to low-speed, non-stop travel, with only a handful of toll plazas offering high-speed non-stop travel for I-PASS users, and then only two lanes in each direction. The big step forward has been the ability to treat an entire plaza as a single zone and remove barriers completely. That gets traffic moving better, and visible improvements like Open Road Tolling have increased motoristsÔÇÖ tolerance for other construction activities and make the temporary inconvenience more worthwhile. Enforcement at the plazas is by means of cameras, which record front and back license plates; there are currently fines (with legislative backup) for noncompliance, but the Illinois Tollway may eventually move to an approach of treating those who donÔÇÖt pay via the I-PASS system as simply customers choosing a variant payment method. These customers will most likely also be charged more to support the alternate payment method. The capital program is now well into the widening and reconstruction phase of the majority of the Tollway system. The Tollways are heavily congested already; expansion will help greatly, but it takes time. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre very sensitive to the impact the construction work will have on people using our system, so we place a high priority on keeping the same number of lanes open during construction as we had before construction,ÔÇØ says Kovacs. ÔÇ£If we have a section of roadway with three lanes in each direction that weÔÇÖre widening to four, weÔÇÖll put one of the lanes on the opposite side of the roadway, install an additional length of temporary barrier wall to separate traffic moving in opposite directions, and move some of the lanes onto the shoulders, which creates space to work in. We reduce speed in the construction zones, typically from 55 to 45 miles per hour in urban areas. The roads were pretty congested before we started work, so during construction thereÔÇÖs not as big an impact on travel time as you would expect.ÔÇØ The old roadway is put to good use. ItÔÇÖs crushed and used as the base and hard core for the new pavement, which is about as sustainable as you can get in road building. The Tollway is also experimenting with rubber from used tires and recycled asphalt as part of the new asphalt mix. It produces a quieter, more durable surface and helps with waste disposal as well.Funding for capital projects is the same way as when the original roads were built: through bonds. The TollwayÔÇÖs 2008 revenues are projected to be in the $670 million range, which services the bonds and maintains the roads in the future. IllinoisÔÇÖ highways will soon be fit for their purpose again and will stay that way for a long time.ÔÇ£We have support from the highest levelÔÇöfrom the governorÔÇÖs officeÔÇöand with the delivery of Open Road Tolling and our new 12.5-mile extension, our credibility has been established, and public acceptance has been phenomenal,ÔÇØ says Kovacs. ÔÇ£What we have said to people is that the program represents short-term pain for long-term gain, and we hope we donÔÇÖt have to bother them again for 30 years. Our improvements will keep the roads rolling.ÔÇØ┬á