DALLAS -- Illinois transportation officials are asking road builders for their input on a proposed private-public partnership to add tolled express lanes on a heavily traveled interstate highway near Chicago.
The Illinois Department of Transportation issued a formal request for information to construction companies on Aug. 11 to help it develop a plan to get the private sector involved in the $435 million project to build 25 miles of tolled express lanes on Interstate-55.
The project involves the addition of one tolled lane in each direction within I-55's median in Cook and DuPage counties between the Veterans Tollway (I-355) and the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-90/94).
The highway segment currently handles 17,000 vehicles each day, of which 15% are large commercial trucks.
Illinois is committed to exploring innovative financing solutions to invest in the state's infrastructure, said transportation secretary Randy Blankenhorn.
"This is an important step for a project that can serve as a model for how to rebuild our roads and bridges," Blankenhorn said. "Working together with the private sector, we can learn about best practices for projects like this, potentially saving taxpayers time and money."
The responses from the construction firms are due Sept. 8. Illinois DOT will then meet individually with the companies and use the information obtained to develop a plan for building and operating the toll lane system, Blankenhorn said.
"We can't go on moving traffic in the same way we have in the past," he said. "This approach works in more than 50 cities now,"
Express tolled lane systems are operational in the Washington, D.C., area as well as Minneapolis, San Diego, Houston, Salt Lake City, Baltimore, Denver, Dallas and Fort Lauderdale, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Work on the toll lane project could begin early next year and be completed in 2019, he said.
"Managed lanes are truly an expressway within an expressway – one more option that will make travel more convenient for everyone who uses I-55," Blankenhorn said. "This project signals a new way of doing business at IDOT and a model for improvements throughout our system."
Blankenhorn said the toll rate has not been decided, but cited a study by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning that estimated a price of $2.75 each way would be sufficient.
Financing and building the express toll lanes as a P3 should be attractive to private investors, said Gov. Bruce Rauner, who worked in private equity before retiring to run for governor.
"My experience in this world -- I've had some over the last 30 years -- I think we'll have investors very interested in this opportunity," he said.
Public-private partnerships often can deliver infrastructure projects quicker than governments can, Rauner said.
"This is fundamentally about growth," he said. "We're asking financiers to invest and provide growth opportunity that it's very difficult for taxpayers to pay for right now."
State law allows the Illinois DOT to build, finance, operate, and maintain highway infrastructure through P3s with approval from the General Assembly.
State Sen. Martin Sandoval, a Chicago Democrat who chairs the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee, said private investments in infrastructure like the toll lane project help create jobs.
"We need to keep people in Illinois working," he said. "Working families deserve projects like this."
The FHWA cleared the project in July by determining that the proposed managed lanes would have no significant impact on the environment.
