Illinois Tollway -- pay attention to pay tolls

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:24:38 -0700, Sapphyre wrote:
I haven't been on the I-290, just the I-90 Skyway and heading up to
Milwaukee, so unfortunately I can't comment on the toll booth set up
you describe. When I was passing on I-90, there are four lanes of
traffic that go through the I-Pass, and then other non-I-Pass vehicles
pull to the right where they pay the fare at an unmanned or manned
toll booth station. We got used to sticking to the right, and the sign
was often with warning one mile ahead.

The Skyway is a lot less busy then 290.

On Jul 23, 11:15 pm, "Bill in Schenectady" wrote:
"sechumlib" wrote in message
I think there are various park-&-ride stations at outlying subway
stations, but I really don't know. Being in Schenectady, I don't learn
much about Chicago!

Well I did have two trips to Chicago in a two month period a couple of years
ago. Both times, I flew into Midway and both times I stayed in mid town
hotels. The first time, I took a cab for about $20. The next time, I took
the subway (El?...whatever it's called) from Midway for a buck, or perhaps
it was a buck and change.

I'm usually really big on public transportation instead of cabs/rental
cars when possible. My issue with Chicago and having our own car was
because we drove a rental from Canada, then stayed near Arlington
Heights (or somewhere around there off the Interstate), because we
were shopping at a convention near the airport. So we overshot on the
highway to save money on hotel, but then spent it all on parking the
following day. Had I known more about Chicago before I went, I might
have planned to park and ride.

I'm not big on cabs, I've had a few less than favourable experiences
with being overcharged (not all of them in North America either...)
When I've had to use a cab, I often find out from the locals ahead of
time what the cab costs from the airport to downtown (or vice versa)
to avoid being ripped off. It's well known in Nashville that some
drivers do that, I got the estimate from someone at the airport for
the cab, then offered the driver an amount that was close. He agreed
to it, so I guess what I did was smart (showing that I already knew
the fare).

S.

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:44:51 GMT, Doug Smith W9WI

Maps tell you that I-290 is a tollroad. The OP, my brother, and myself
are all well aware of that.

What the map doesn't tell you is how the
tollbooths are configured. Which lanes are I-Pass? (I certainly don't
think it's obvious the *middle* lanes would be I-Pass! Indeed, when
low-speed I-Pass first went in, it was the *left-hand* lanes that had the
I-Pass stations.)

I suppose it shouldn't bother me one way or the other. As any chronic
speeder will tell you, it's not absolute speed that makes danger, it's
differential speed. So why is the State of Illinois requiring tourists to
come to a dead stop in the middle of a freeway while simultaneously
allowing locals to drive 70+mph on the same road? With high-speed
I-Pass, I no longer consider it safe for tourists to use the Illinois
Tollway.

Many of us locals in Chicago/NE Illinois refer to our local
toll/expressway system by name rather than the interstate number. I
actually had to check a map to find out that I-290 is an expressway I
use regularly. It is also known as the Eisenhower (or IkePike) and
Eisenhower extension, which runs from the Dan Ryan junction W and NW
to Schaumburg and a junction with the I-90, which is at this point the
NW Tollway. At no point is the 290 a toll road.

So, I have a hard time figuring out which toll road you actually drove
on. I pass through many of the open road tolling areas, but far from
all of them, fairly often. In none of those I see is the cash lane
out in the middle of the road. Instead, it is off to the side,
separated from at least most of the high speed lanes. Illinois, along
with a number of other states, uses both mainline tolling and toll
collection at some entrance/exit ramps, but as I say, mainline cash
tolling is (in my experience) off to the side and and not in a high
speed lane. I believe open road tolling conversion may still be going
on in some toll areas, and during construction there may be cases such
as you described. Not on the roads I drive.

Your point is correct in that in some cases the cash lanes are
actually cash/IPass lanes. This does create a differential speed
through the toll area, but in these cases IPass vehicles are subject
to reduced speed requirements, which may or may not be observed. I
agree this is an undesireable situation.

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:18:27 +0000, BobT wrote:
Many of us locals in Chicago/NE Illinois refer to our local
toll/expressway system by name rather than the interstate number. I
actually had to check a map to find out that I-290 is an expressway I
use regularly. It is also known as the Eisenhower (or IkePike) and
Eisenhower extension, which runs from the Dan Ryan junction W and NW
to Schaumburg and a junction with the I-90, which is at this point the
NW Tollway. At no point is the 290 a toll road.

294, I suppose, A.K.A. the Tri-State. I know that's what I was thinking
of & where my brother had his difficulty.

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:59:08 GMT, Doug Smith W9WI
wrote:

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:18:27 +0000, BobT wrote:

294, I suppose, A.K.A. the Tri-State. I know that's what I was thinking
of & where my brother had his difficulty.

Very possible. It is often the most congested of the tollway system.
Also, my impression is that the conversion to open road tolling has
proceeded more slowly on the Tristate than on several of the others. I
generally find a way to avoid the worst parts of the Tristate

I don't know just when your experience with the system took place. The
Illinois tollway system has always had mainline tolling (as do a
number of other systems, even including Ohio, for example, at the
termini at Eastgate and Westgate), but back when mainline toll gates
were in use throughout the system, your original criticism was very
appropriate. It's a problem that permeates the U.S. toll highway
system, and serious accidents have taken place at several such
facilities nationwide.

Incidentally, I gather you use the Ohio Turnpike. Have they begun
their conversion to EZPass yet? I note it is scheduled to be fully
operational in year or so.

On 2007-07-25 10:02:41 -0400, BobT said:

Incidentally, I gather you use the Ohio Turnpike. Have they begun
their conversion to EZPass yet? I note it is scheduled to be fully
operational in year or so.

I just looked at the Ohio Turnpike Web site. In their FAQ they say that
the next generation toll collection system will accept EZPass. They
give no dates for its installation.

This is a switcheroo for them. Just a year or so ago, they were
emphasizing how different the Ohio Turnpike is from all others in not
going through any major population centers, and using this as an excuse
for not adopting EZP. Now they're at least saying it's in the future.

On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:02:41 +0000, BobT wrote:
294, I suppose, A.K.A. the Tri-State. I know that's what I was thinking
of & where my brother had his difficulty.

Very possible. It is often the most congested of the tollway system.
Also, my impression is that the conversion to open road tolling has
proceeded more slowly on the Tristate than on several of the others. I
generally find a way to avoid the worst parts of the Tristate

'Course, if you're a tourist going through - Milwaukee=Michigan, Twin
Cities=NYC, something like that - bypassing *part* of the Tri-State
isn't very practical. Either you take the whole thing or you find a way
to bypass it altogether.

I don't know just when your experience with the system took place. The
Illinois tollway system has always had mainline tolling (as do a number
of other systems, even including Ohio, for example, at the termini at
Eastgate and Westgate), but back when mainline toll gates were in use
throughout the system, your original criticism was very appropriate.
It's a problem that permeates the U.S. toll highway system, and serious
accidents have taken place at several such facilities nationwide.

My last Tollway trip has been something like five years, unless you count
the time I forgot the stretch of I-39 between the southeast side of
Rockford and Beloit is part of the Northwest Tollway... The OP's was much
more recent; my brother's was last winter around Christmas.

ISTR a serious multiple-fatality wreck at the Elgin toll plaza last summer?

The tollbooths have always been a safety issue in Illinois. (and every
other state that has tollbooths, maybe except when congestion forces
traffic to slow well before it reaches the booths!) I do think rolling
I-Pass has made them significantly worse, and high-speed I-Pass even more
so. Of course the locals love it but it sure isn't much good for those
who have to pass through...

Yes, Ohio (Pennsylvania too, IIRC) does have that problem at the state
lines, but *only* at the state lines, not at frequent intermediate points.

Incidentally, I gather you use the Ohio Turnpike. Have they begun their
conversion to EZPass yet? I note it is scheduled to be fully
operational in year or so.

I'm not a regular user, just happens I've driven it 2-3 times including
last summer. I want to say I saw EZPass lanes but don't hold me to it,
that's not what I was looking forgrin.

===================
(Kentucky finally paid off the last of their construction bonds last year;
there are no longer any tollroads in the state...)

You were talking about 294...I'm a Chicago native and just took the
route in a rental car with no IPASS transponder...needless to say it
was extremely frustrating.

There's a lot of confusion around what is discussed here...there are
middle lane cash only lanes, but those are at the exits. Of
particular problem was a toll I had to run that exits from 294 to
OHare. It's absolutely stupid that this toll does not have an
attendant given a huge percentage of the people on it must be tourists
returning to Ohare.

Additionally, the toll from I55 to 294 had a poorly marked price on it
and I think it was cash only.

I was quite frustrated because I had no coins and had to go through
two tolls which only accepted coins. $1.60 is a lot of change to
expect someone to have on hand.

During the construction the signage was excellent because they took
all the old toll signs and replaced the prices with the new price...I
think most of the old toll signage has been removed. The probably do
not want to advertise what the price is for non IPASS users or IPASS
users.

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:02:47 -0700, wrote:

You were talking about 294...I'm a Chicago native and just took the
route in a rental car with no IPASS transponder...needless to say it
was extremely frustrating.

Is the open road (mainline) tolling construction project complete end
to end (Wisconsin line to a coule of miles west of the Indiana line)
on the TriState?