Illinois

Bell tolls? Illinois Tollway tears out last booths, ending age of paying with change

Published

2 years ago

July 12, 2024

Bell tolls? Illinois Tollway tears out last booths, ending age of paying with change

Gone are the days of stashing coins in your car for highway toll booths, the last vestige of a 60-year period when drivers could stop to deposit change or hand over cash.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority tore out its last physical booth along the southern section of Interstate 294 this summer, more than four years after the agency stopped using booths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s left some former toll collectors nostalgic for the time when they could offer customer service in person.

“Whatever [customers] needed, we had it,” said Clovia Lockridge, who collected tolls from 2012 until the system went dormant in March 2020, amid COVID-19 lockdowns.

Lockridge remembers helping customers with directions, maps and even replacement Velcro for toll transponders, free of charge.

“Not only were we sticking our hands out collecting tolls, we were the face of the tollway,” said Lockridge, 44, who usually worked at Plaza 43 in the south suburbs.

Crews remove tollbooths and the concrete barriers at Illinois Tollway Plaza 41 on southbound I-294, near 163rd Street, in Markham, Friday, June 28, 2024.

Now tollway drivers must use an I-Pass or, if they are traveling from out of state and don’t use a compatible E-ZPass, must pay online or get a bill in the mail.

“The world is a little colder without human contact options,” said Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor and veteran researcher on transportation issues.

The shift to all-electronic tolling is the latest move to automate more aspects of transportation. Bus company Greyhound recently stopped accepting cash. Metra last year closed its ticketing windows, leaving commuters to use either an app or vending machines.

The Illinois Tollway stopped using toll booths in 2020 and made the move permanent a year later. Now the agency is removing the concrete barriers that divided the booths at plazas and on ramps, creating a fully open road toll system.

“The tollway is now an all-electronic, or cashless system. That means we don’t need a lot of this infrastructure,” Illinois Tollway chief engineering officer Manar Nashif said in an interview.

The tollway hasn’t decided what to do with the toll booth lanes.

“Right now, we’re just focused on removing that infrastructure,” Nashif said.

The Illinois Tollway first opened to traffic in 1958, envisioned as a bypass around the urban core of Chicago, according to a tollway history.

When the system opened, the six toll plazas along the Tri-State charged 30 cents each. The original system also included the Northwest Highway, now called the Jane Addams Memorial, and East-West Tollway, now the Reagan Memorial.

A 1958 job notice in the Chicago Sun-Times said the Tollway Authority was looking to employ 80 men, age 24 or older, as toll collectors. Pay started at $3,900 a year.

Over decades, the agency expanded to operate more than 290 miles of tollway in 12 counties.

An I-88 driver antes up at the Oak Brook Plaza in the western suburb in May 2011.

Tollways nationwide began going cashless about two decades ago as toll authorities embraced transponder technology.

Cashless lanes can handle at least five times as many cars as tollbooth lanes, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Electronic tolling also cuts down on emissions from cars that would otherwise stop to pay tolls. It’s cheaper, too, with about $135,000 in annual savings per lane versus manual collection, according to the same report.

“For large systems like Illinois, this is a godsend,” said Mark Muriello, vice president of policy and government affairs at the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association. “This really speeds people along.”

About two-thirds of tollways in America are now electronic-only, Muriello said.

The pandemic accelerated the shift to all-electronic tolling. The Illinois Tollway, which began open road tolling in 2005, almost immediately shifted to all-electronic tolling during the pandemic.

Crews remove tollbooths and the concrete barriers at Illinois Tollway Plaza 41 on southbound I-294, near 163rd Street, in Markham, Friday, June 28, 2024. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times — Crews remove tollbooths and the concrete barriers at Illinois Tollway Plaza 41 on southbound I-294, near 163rd Street, in Markham last month.

Nashif said when the pandemic hit, most Illinois tollway users were already I-Pass users.

“This is a natural way that we’ve been headed,” he said.

The shift to cashless tolling has had consequences for out-of-state travelers.

“As someone who travels across the United States in rental cars, it’s daunting,” Schwieterman said. “Do I need to download an app? Or bring my own pass? It’s very tricky.”

Cashless tolling has also left toll collectors in the lurch.

When the Illinois Tollway went all cashless in 2020, it reassigned its toll collectors as customer service representatives. The tollway still employs nearly 150 of them but has plans to lay them off at the end of August.

SEIU Local 73, which represents the tollway workers, is negotiating the layoffs with Illinois Tollway in the hopes it will change its mind about outsourcing the call-taker jobs to a nonprofit organization.

Lockridge, one of the former toll collectors and a member of the union bargaining committee, said customer service will take a hit if she and her co-workers are laid off.

“If you know a toll collector, you know they are dedicated,” Lockridge said, “It’s something that’s in their heart. It’s something they’ve always done.”

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Illinois

New Illinois bill aims to overhaul public defense system | The Chicago Report

Published

5 hours ago

June 27, 2026

Press Room

New Illinois bill aims to overhaul public defense system | The Chicago Report

A major overhaul to the Illinois justice system could be officially underway.
House Bill 3363 lays the foundation for a brand new agency, the state public defender office.
The goal is to bring more consistent legal representation for Illinois residents who can’t afford an attorney.
Joining us now to discuss the rolled-out timeline is the bill’s sponsor, State representative Dave Vella, who actually started his legal career as a public defender, before heading to Springfield.

Posted June 26, 2026 7:06pm CDT

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Illinois

Illinois Democrats face backlash after blaming Trump in Chicago cross-burning case | Fox News Video

Published

15 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Press Room

Illinois Democrats face backlash after blaming Trump in Chicago cross-burning case | Fox News Video

‘Outnumbered’ reacts to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson blaming President Donald Trump for a cross-burning incident in Grant Park.

Illinois Democratic leaders Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are slammed for weaponizing a Chicago cross burning incident by blaming former President Trump. Despite the suspect, Murlin Lue, admitting his motive was to protest Trump, not racism, Pritzker and Johnson doubled down. Critics, including Illinois GOP State Rep. Chris Miller, accuse them of playing politics and fostering division rather than seeking truth.

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Illinois

Illinois Lt. Gov. candidates focus on affordability in pitch to Rockford voters

Published

1 day ago

June 26, 2026

Press Room

Illinois Lt. Gov. candidates focus on affordability in pitch to Rockford voters

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – November ballots will feature a repeat of top billing in the race for governor. Illinoisans can once again choose between Governor JB Pritzker or Darren Bailey to lead the Land of Lincoln.

But beside their spots, new names will appear for voters.

The Democratic and Republican candidates for governor picked new running mates for their rematch. With Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton running for U.S. Senate, Pritzker picked Christian Mitchell to join his ticket. On the Republican side, Aaron Del Mar joins Bailey, who previously ran with Stephanie Trussell in 2022.

Mitchell and Del Mar spoke Thursday with WIFR on what inspires them to run, their campaign priorities and ideas to improve the Rockford region.

Backgrounds

Starting with the Democratic ticket, Mitchell joins the race as a former state representative from Chicago as well as a deputy governor with the Pritzker administration.

“Before anything else, I’m Debbie’s son, and I’m James’s grandson,” Mitchell introduced. “They’re the ones who really instilled in me the value of hard work and made sure that I was going to have a very bright future.”

Mitchell sees the role of lieutenant governor as a partner to the state’s executive.

“I’m really lucky to be running with somebody who I respect, and who I think is the best governor in the nation… Governor JB Pritzker,” he said.. “My first thing is going to be supporting his agenda, which right now is all about lowering costs and raising wages.”

On the Republican side, Del Mar hails from suburban Chicago and considers his first priority to be raising his family.

“I wanted nothing to do with politics, did not want to be involved — wanted just to raise my kids and work my job,“ said Del Mar. He described his start in public service as something he ”kind of got pulled into.”

The Republican worked his way from a city council member in Palatine, at 29-years-old, to co-chair of the Illinois GOP. Although he says he “wanted nothing to do with being on” Bailey’s campaign, Del Mar sees strength in unity — offering a Chicago area perspective alongside Bailey’s southern Illinois roots.

“How about everybody in the state of Illinois, regardless of where you come from, has a seat at the table. If you’re from a southeast farming community, or you’re from the city of Chicago, where I grew up, everybody has a stake in the game.”

Priorities

Mitchell points to economic development as his focus for the gubernatorial campaign.

“I see vacancies on State Street in Chicago. I see vacancies on Main Street in Belleville and Alton and in Carbondale,” he recounted. “I want to make sure that we’ve got the kind of amenities and economic development, that kind of affordability, that allow us to make sure that folks want to stay in the towns that they’re born in if they want to.”

The Democratic candidate also eyes long-term planning for the state, including an “Illinois 2050 Plan.”

“How do we have the kind of educational undergirding that means that no matter where you’re from, you have a chance to have one of those jobs, whether it’s in new agriculture technology and new farming techniques or biotech, quantum.”

When asked how to achieve these priorities, Mitchell turned to investing in public education, retaining residents with better wages and improving health care.

“Making sure that we are able to protect our health care system, so that folks aren’t going broke when they get sick, that’s another big way that we can make an impact.”

Del Mar outlined a cost-of-living focus as central to his campaign.

“You wanna succeed, you do the basics really well, and the basics are affordability,” he contended.

The Republican repeatedly highlighted the state’s property taxes — reportedly the highest in the nation — as an issue to tackle. He suggested redirecting Illinois’s budget as one measure to ease the burden on homeowners.

“Number one is fully funding the state’s portion of local taxes, because that will offer people property tax relief.” Del Mar clarified this wouldn’t mean redirecting funds for public education.

“We’re looking at how we fund schools, how we make sure to empower teachers to have the best educational outcomes that we can have here in Illinois, regardless of what your zip code is, regardless of what your parents do for a living or how much money they make,” added Del Mar.

Reflecting on Rockford

Each candidate provided their vision for boosting the Rockford region.

For Mitchell, improvements continue with infrastructure funding, building on the state’s roughly $500 million investment in the area.

“The things that we have already worked on, through the capital plan that I helped lead as deputy governor, that the governor signed and is implementing, are already having benefits that the people of Rockford can see.”

The Democrat also pointed to the Chicago Rockford International Airport as an opportunity.

“Investing in that regional airport where we’ve already helped with a matching grant to get additional funds, that helps build out the economy,” said Mitchell. “There’s so much that’s happening there that it is really good for the economy and bringing more people back to Rockford.”

Del Mar shared his local priority as supporting unionization in the area.

“Union families deserve to be able to have a livable wage, and that’s something that’s important to Darren and I,” said Del Mar. He mentioned pensions were another item that a Republican executive wouldn’t touch for the public and private sector unions.

“I know that area up there has strong union backbone,” described Del Mar. “We want to make sure they know that they’re not going to have a bigger supporter in the governor’s mansion than Darren and I.”