CHICAGO - Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Illinois State Toll Highway Authority officials yesterday unveiled a $1.8 billion, bond-financed plan to build new interstate-to-interstate interchanges and add bus and ride-sharing commuter lanes to the busiest stretches of the 286-mile toll system.
The authority would spend $1.4 billion to build the interchanges and $400 million for construction of the commuter lanes. The agency would repay the debt with additional revenues that would be collected from a toll increase for commercial vehicles and single-passenger cars that use the new lanes.
Officials pushed the plan as a means to further congestion-relief efforts on the tollways, reduce emissions, and create jobs. The program was portrayed as the second phase of the $6.3 billion congestion-relief program begun in 2004.
"The Illinois Tollway has the solid financial foundation and the engineering capabilities to immediately begin the process of building these long-awaited interchange improvement projects," authority board chairman John Mitola said in a statement. "In addition, the introduction of Green Lanes reduces our impact on the environment, while saving drivers time and money. Investing in car pool programs now will help commuters cut their costs at the gas pump and on the road for years to come."
Under the commuter-lane proposal, tolls will be deducted electronically from vehicles with car pool drivers and buses paying the same rate as they do now when they use the electronic device known as the I-PASS. Single-occupancy vehicles will pay a premium rate to use the free-flow lanes and the authority will raise commercial rates.
The new interchange will be built on the Tri-State Tollway at Interstate 57. The current interchange at Jane Addams Tollway at Interstate 90-290 will be rebuilt. The authority's board is expected to vote on the plan at its November meeting following a series of public hearings.
The tollway agency is issuing new-money debt on an as-needed basis through 2010 to finance the $6.3 billion capital program that includes rebuilding of the system. It relies on $3.5 billion of bonding backed by toll revenues.
First announced in 2004, the program grew last year by about $1 billion due to the addition of $750 million of congestion-relief projects, increased construction costs, and the extension of final project construction by two years to 2016.
Under the capital program, roads are being rebuilt and extended, toll plazas are being altered to accommodate electronic tolling and relieve congestion, and a new interstate highway is being built. The original plan relies on increased revenue collected from the doubling of tolls paid by motorists who don't use the I-PASS device.
The tollway authority has a $500 million new-money sale slated for the fall, but the deal's exact timing, size, and structure are still under review, given the credit crunch and recent jump in both variable rates and fixed rates amid the market turmoil, toll finance chief Michael Colsch said recently.
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority's bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-minus bye Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's.
