Illinois Toll Road Increases Will Hit Pocketbooks Of Northwest Indiana Workers

It's something to think about as Indianapolis regional civic leaders clammer for the creation of a regional transportation authority for the Indianapolis metropolitan area to create tolled roads and develop rapid transit. An unelected Illinois Tollway Board voted yesterday to increase tolls a whopping 87% to finance $12 billion in new highway projects. The Northwest Indiana Times talks to one Indiana worker who says the toll increase will cost her an additional $364 a year on top of the skyrocketing fuel costs and tolls she is already paying. What's interesting is that the region has rapid rail transit that helps commuters travel throughout the Chicago metropolitan area without ever getting behind the wheel of a car. All of the $12 billion in planned new projects, however, is for toll road projects, including adding additional lanes, rebuilding exists roads and adding new routes to the 286-mile system of tolled roads in the Chicago area.