Avoiding tolls I-80 Chicago

[Windwalker]

I have a question for you windwalker. Are you against a new road being constructed if it will need to be a toll road? I am with you on the "governments want to waste money faster so they toll existing roads" thing but what about a new highway?

And why does a new road "need to be a toll road"?

Most fly by night O/O's pulled their trucks off, but the profitable companies got IPASS and kept using it. The company I drove for at the time raised their rates to cover the increase and kept the trucks moving.

And, the cost is passed on to the customers, who pass it on, until it reaches the end consumer, who is effectively TAXED without any form of representation. Remember the "BOSTON TEA PARTY"?

As far as stopping to pay the toll, who does that any more? Get an IPASS and you breeze right through.

I certainly don't pay tolls anymore. I don't go there anymore. If they want me there bad enough, THEY WILL PAY MY TOLL FOR ME. Until then, they do not want my services bad enough. And, although I remember paying over $4 back when they first started it, even if it is $3 now, that's still in excess of 300% increase in the toll above the $0.90 that it used to be. OH got into trouble with the companies over 93%. I guess you could say I ran that toll "TWICE" since they raised it. THE FIRST TIME, AND THE LAST TIME. Why should I get an I-pass? It's a waste if I'm not going to be going that way anymore.

If you notice, the part where 294 and 80 run together is newly rebuilt, for that matter, it all new from there east to the IN border. You can thank the IL toll system for that, as if we waited for the IL Dot to fix it it would be in the shape most of 80 wet from there is.

I had heard there was some pretty heavy construction going on in that area, and all the way to the loop. I have no idea what it looks like. I don't go there anymore. Draw a line down from Rockford (or Beloit) and circle it around to the IN line above Kankakee. That northeast corner of IL is no longer on my map. I do not go there. No. I no longer run ANY toll roads, no matter where they are.

Late in Jan, the year they raised the tolls, I was offered a load to the Chicago area. It wasn't a bad paying load. An emergency generator for a medical facility. A RUSH order because their existing one died. But, it also meant running a toll road. I turned it down. Then, I had a chance to turn it down again in mid Feb. I was at the shipper again in early May, and they tried to put that same unit on my trailer. Again, the answer was no. In July, I talked to another driver that said he had just delivered it for more than $9/mile, and they said they were very happy to get it because there were some kind of procedures they could not do without a back-up power source. He had turned it down 4 times before that for the same reason I did.

Yes. I am against toll roads. They want their supplies brought in, they want their goods shipped out, and they want their economy, but they want someone else to pick up the cost of access. That's a form of "HAVING YOUR CAKE AND EATING IT TOO". When they allow us to have that, then, and only then, can they have it too.

[Part Time Dweller]

Yes. I am against toll roads. They want their supplies brought in, they want their goods shipped out, and they want their economy, but they want someone else to pick up the cost of access.

In this case, the IL toll roads were built and maintained by the Toll Authority, no Federal or state money is or was used in building or maintaining any of them. The Toll authority even pays for the State Police that patrol those roads, including the patrol cars they drive. What I am getting at is, the toll roads are a separate entity, they make their operating revenue from tolls, with no help from anyone else. Like any business, a handful of disgruntled customers really doesn't hurt the bottom line.

And, the cost is passed on to the customers, who pass it on, until it reaches the end consumer, who is effectively TAXED without any form of representation. Remember the "BOSTON TEA PARTY"?

So how would that be different than IL doing away with the Tolls and raising the fuel tax by .10 per gallon to make up for the lost revenue?

BTW, we are doing just fine without your services, as a matter of fact, never really noticed any decline of goods on the shelves since the tolls increased and all the big boycott of the IL toll system called for by OOIDA and The Bozo at the time.

I find it laughable that their are drivers who get paid by the mile who would rather waste time sitting in traffic or going way out of route to save a few dollars on tolls, because of some B.S. they hear at the lunch counter or on the CB.

[Windwalker]

Enjoy to your heart's content. I'm not telling anyone else what to do or not to do. I'm simply saying I will not run a toll road anymore. The original question was "How do you get around the toll road. I answered it. But, on his way back to Indy, he should have turned right in Momence onto 114 and followed that to 41. He would have saved a lot more miles, and there is a small truck stop at the intersection with 41, along with a small restaurant. Follow 41down to 63 which comes out at exit 4 of I-74 and he's home free.

I also have not seen an answer as to just why a new road must be a toll road.

[Part Time Dweller]

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority just built the I355 extension, from I55 to I80 as a tollway. That was the only way to get it built, as the State of Illinois didn't have the funding. If the ISTHA didn't step up to the plate, the road never would have been built. They borrowed the money needed, and it is being repaid by the money generated by tolls.

The other alternative would have been the State building it, and raising fuel/gas taxes to pay back the bonds. As far as I am concerned, roads paid for by user fees (tolls) is by far the best way to go, if I use it, I pay for it, instead of paying for a road I don't use every time I buy fuel or gas. That is why the IL Toll system is a good one. Do you honestly think the people outside of the Chicago metro area would like to pay at the pump for roads they probably have or never will use? They already get the shaft having to pay fuel tax for the mass transit up here.

User paid roads are going to be a thing of the future, get used to it.

[Windwalker]

And, the fees are added onto the "COST OF DELIVERY" so that some little old lady on a fixed income in Fargo, ND, that only drives to church and the grocery store once a week can pay an installment on your toll road every time she stocks her pantry. Never saw your toll road, much less has any use for it, but you're going to let her help pay for it. She's not a user. She has no representation in IL, but she gets to put out for it, along with thousands of other people around the country that don't even know it exists. And YOU think that fair and just? You're going to let... No.. you're going to CHARGE they because you want something done in YOUR LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD? Folks in Denver have their own roads tp pay for, why should they have to help you pay for yours.? Just because you don't want to pay more for gas tax like every body else does? What makes you so special?

[Part Time Dweller]

So, the states all charge more gas tax to fix and build new roads, then eventually, when all the trucking companies raise their rates pass it along, it has the same affect. I am sure there are hidden taxes we all pay for things we never see. I pay taxes for deadbeats that sit on welfare, granny pays for roads, we all pay taxes for rest arears so you all can have a place to take a break, I pay federal tax for roads I will never drive on. What exactly is your point again?

[Windwalker]

So, the states all charge more gas tax to fix and build new roads, then eventually, when all the trucking companies raise their rates pass it along, it has the same affect. I am sure there are hidden taxes we all pay for things we never see. I pay taxes for deadbeats that sit on welfare, granny pays for roads, we all pay taxes for rest arears so you all can have a place to take a break, I pay federal tax for roads I will never drive on. What exactly is your point again?

So, let's levy a "TOLL TAX" on all the good folks in Dallas, Ft Worth, and Houston to pay for the roads in IL. Oh, yeah, let's include Salt Lake City in on that. Think they'll go for it? Toll is only a "BACK-HANDED" way of doing exactly the same thing, not only to them, but to virtually everyone else in the country. Which makes it a LIE. What makes IL and the Chicago area so special? WI is working on making hwy 29, across the state from Green Bay to Eau Claire an interstate hwy. Suppose they charge that cost to the people of Chicago? After all, there are a whole lot of IL tags on the cars, pickups, vans, and motorhomes that use the road every year. A majority of the vehicles involved in accidents on that toad are wearing IL tags. Suppose they charge that to the people in IL. Would they pay it with a smile?- And, let's not leave you out. You get to pay your share too.

[Part Time Dweller]

And my point is, if WI decides to raise the fuel tax to cover the 29 project, and carriers raise their rates accordingly, I will pay for it in raised prices on anything that comes through WI on its way here. What you are missing is, that raise in rates, in either scenario, would be spread over the entire load. If it is divided into say 5000 individual widgets that are on a particular load, the amount is minimal.