Gov. Bruce Rauner visited an Illinois Department of Transportation Depot (IDOT) in McCook, Illinois, on Monday to urge the General Assembly to move forward with an I-55 road initiative that would add toll lanes to the oft-congested highway.
“Today, we are requesting your help – the help of all the media and the people across the state of Illinois – to advocate strongly to move forward now on one of the most important job-creating project that we can pursue as a state,” Rauner said. “We in Illinois need to expand our economy. We need to create more good-paying jobs for the people of Illinois. One of the best ways we can do this is to invest in our infrastructure -- to make sure we have the best highway system in America.”
Under the plan, a toll express lane would be created in both directions on I-55 between Interstate 355 and Interstate 90/Interstate 94. The road travels through DuPage, Cook, and Will counties. The 25-mile stretch sees about 170,000 vehicles a day.
The project would be privately funded.
Rauner, along with IDOT Secretary of Transportation Randall Blankenhorn, House Republican Leader Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) and several business groups, said the current congestion afflicting I-55 is costly for businesses and commuters. Adding toll lanes will create efficiency and new jobs, Rauner said.
“We need to grow more jobs by increasing the capacity of our transportation system, and while we are doing that, we create high-paying, good-quality construction jobs to expand the system,” he said. “This is a win on every level. The project that we are proposing is one that will not cost taxpayers any money at all. Taxpayers will not be at risk even for one nickel. This can all be privately financed. This can all be done independent.”
The lane would not be mandatory, as regular lanes would remain open. The hope is to lessen congestion by allowing commuters and businesses to utilize the toll lane if they are in a hurry.
Durkin echoed Rauner’s sentiments, imploring the General Assembly to pass the resolution immediately.
“It’s my hope that we will be able to put some new life into this resolution and get this passed immediately because the clock is ticking,” Durkin said. “It would be very unfortunate if we were to pass this resolution and not [have it] see the light of day in Springfield because it would be a disappointment for everybody in this region, but also for the labor organizations and also the business communities who came together for the strong cooperative approach toward this.”
Blankenhorn said the General Assembly has until April 1 to pass the measure or investors will walk away.
Rauner called Illinois a hub to the world and said to ignore the problems of 1-55 would be detrimental to the state.
“We are the crossroads; we the are hub of transportation across the United States, and we need to make sure that our roads are the best, that they are at maximum capacity so we can move our commuters, our freights, our hardworking people and businesses quickly and efficiently across the state of Illinois and across America,” he said. “One of the most important ways we can do that is by expanding the capacity of our very busy interstate highway system.”
Blankenhorn stated that lanes could be ready by 2020 and that pricing for the tolls would vary depending on how congested the traffic is.
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