Trucking has a seat on a newly-created transition team that is supposed to set the future course of the Illinois Tollway but higher tolls are not in trucking’s future, the industry representative said.
“They’re trying to get buy-in from people on toll increases but there’s no way we’re going to buy into that,” said George Billows, executive director of the Illinois Trucking Association.
The new 25-member transition committee that includes Billows was established by Kristi Lafleur on April 20, the day after she took over as the Tollway’s new executive director.
The Illinois Tollway system is comprised of four tolled roadways running a total 286 miles east, west, north and south across the northern part of the state.
The system serves 1.4 million drivers a day and is made up of all or portions of six interstate highways: I-80, I-88, I-90, I-94, I-294 and I-355.
The four tolled roads that make up the system are the Tri-State, Jane Adams Memorial, Reagan Memorial, and Veterans tollways.
Joelle McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Tollway, said formation of the committee “has nothing to do with tolls.”
The committee was created to “help set a new framework for the agency both for the immediate future and to move forward,” McGinnis said.
