ABC 7 | Big Ill. Tollway fare hike takes effect Jan. 1

The following news item from ABC 7 features TUA’s lawsuit against the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
December 20, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — A judge allowed the tollway authority to go ahead with a massive hike in fees Tuesday. On January 1, 2012, the average Illinois Tollway fare will nearly double.
These days most drivers don’t even have to slow down to pay a toll. But soon, the cost may have drivers hitting the brakes.
“I go through three tolls on the way to work and three on the way home. That’s six total. It adds up,” said driver Husam Nofal.
“The cost is $5 in some places for trucks, almost $2 for cars. Diesel fuel, everything is going up,” said truck driver Will Grinstead. “It really makes it rough. You want to find alternate routes. People will go around the tolls.”
A last ditch effort by a taxpayer watchdog group to get not just the toll hike but the toll road itself declared illegal failed Tuesday when a judge tossed out the case.
“The Tollways were never intended to be permanent,” said Andrew Spiegel, Taxpayers United of America.
Taxpayers United argued that the 1953 law that created the toll authority specifically said Tollways would become freeways after the initial bonds were paid off. But there was one problem with that argument.
“What’s not in the statute and what has never been in the state statute is a date when that is supposed to happen,” said Spiegel.
Starting January 1, 2012 I-PASS users will see their typical tolls go from 40 to 75 cents. Paying a toll in cash will increase from 80 cents to $1.50.
The toll authority’s own website calls the freeway promise “well intended, but shortsighted.” It states simply: “there is no such thing as a free road.” And some drivers agree.
“Forty percent of my local are out of work right now. I’d like to see more construction coming for Illinois…if it puts more people back to work,” said Kevin Keane, driver and union member.
The toll authority plans to spend $12 billion over the next 15 years updating roads.
One point seven million dollars gets thrown into toll buckets every day in Illinois.

(Copyright ©2011 WLS-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Chicago Tribue | Judge rejects bid to block toll hike

The following article in the Chicago Tribune features TUA’s lawsuit against the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
December 21, 2011|By Richard Wronski, Chicago Tribune reporter
A Cook County judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt to block the near-doubling of tolls scheduled to take effect Jan. 1 on Illinois tollways.
Judge Rita Novak dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Illinois Tollway’s power to raise tolls and denied a request for an injunction to block the hikes.
Novak ruled there was no reason to believe the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority was violating the state statute which created the agency, as the lawsuit argued.
The lawsuit, filed by a taxpayers group, challenged the continued existence of the tollway since its creation in the 1950s, and the tollway’s authority to perpetuate itself. It cited the agency’s approval of a new $12.1 billion, 15-year construction program, which will be funded by millions in higher tolls starting next year.
The judge found that the state statute establishing the tollway does not set a time frame that says “now is the time to end the tollway system.”
“There is nothing (in the statute) to require the tollway to stop operating,” Novak said.
The lawsuit was filed in September by James Tobin of Taxpayers United of America and echoes an often-repeated question raised by tollway users.
Gov. Pat Quinn, when he was state treasurer in 1994, favored setting a final date for all tollways to become freeways. Quinn now oversees the tollway through the agency’s board and backs the tollway expansion plan.
The suit sought to block what it called the “extortionate” 87.5 percent toll hike that the tollway board approved Aug. 25.
The basic I-PASS rate for many tollway users will rise to 75 cents from 40 cents. Other I-PASS rates will be higher, depending on the toll plaza. Tolls for cash-paying motorists will double.
Tobin said after the hearing that his group would likely appeal.
The judge allowed Tobin and the other plaintiffs to amend their lawsuit and argue their case further before her. Attorney Andrew Spiegel, representing Tobin, said they may seek additional plaintiffs to bolster their case.
In a statement, the tollway said it was pleased with the judge’s decision and that the new capital program “followed all applicable laws as outlined in the Toll Highway Act.”
The suit alleged that the agency violated the law by failing to convert tollways into freeways decades ago, when the original bonds were paid off, and ceasing operation.
“The language of the Tollway Act is crystal clear,” the suit alleged. “The Legislature never intended the tollway to be a self-perpetuating bond-issuing machine that continues ad infinitum.”
The lawsuit also made a novel argument: that the agency’s plan to convert the existing Elgin-O’Hare Expressway into a tollway is illegal.
“The Legislature never intended the tollway to confiscate freeways and convert them to tollways,” the plaintiffs argued.
The tollway plans to widen the Elgin-O’Hare and connect it to a future tollway skirting O’Hare International Airport’s western border. The project is one of many included in the tollway expansion program.
Lawyers for Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, who represented the tollway, argued that the state statute establishing the agency specified it shall be dissolved only “when all obligations and bonds including refunding bonds of the authority have been paid,” something which hasn’t occurred yet.
They also said the agency is funded by customers’ tolls and that no taxpayer dollars are at issue.