Tolls Coming To Illinois Expressway
If you want to get there faster, Illinois wants you to pay! Tolls will soon be charged on a busy Northern Illinois expressway.
Hey, it's Illinois, where you get to pay extra for everything. Right now if you travel on I-290, you pay nothing, but that's about to change.The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has announced a plan to put toll lanes on Eisenhower Expressway.
It's not set in stone yet, but the IDOT plan is to add a fourth lane to I-290 in each direction between Mannheim Road and Austin Boulevard. That means there would be four lanes between I-88 and I-90/94. Only the new lane in each direction would be a toll lane, the other three would remain free lanes.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the plan is to encourage ride sharing. Those who car pool and buses would be able to travel in the new lanes for free, everyone would have to pay. In order to travel for free, car poolers would have to have three or more occupants in a vehicle. So how would this be enforced? You would have to register your car as a car pool vehicle with the state. Even after doing so, the method of enforcement remains a matter that has not been decided at this point.
The plan is not final, and has to go through further review, but this is Illinois, so you know it's only a matter of time before you will have to pay.