TOLLWAY PLANS HIGHER TOLLS FOR TRUCKERS

Illinois truckers next year will face their third toll increase since 2014 and drivers will see seven new ramps with tolling points on the Jane Addams tollway under a tentative Illinois Tollway budget unveiled Wednesday.

Toll revenues and toll evasion recovery income are expected to increase by 6 percent next year, to $ 1.37 billion, as the Illinois Tollway kicks off the sixth year of a 15- year capital construction program.

Construction barrels and barriers should be removed from the Jane Addams, also known as Interstate 90, by the end of this year, allowing seven new ramps between Barrington Road and Interstate 294 to collect tolls in 2017.

The good news for drivers in 2017 is that “it will be the first year with the Jane Addams wide open,” Illinois Tollway spokesman Dan Rozek said. “It will be a much faster, smoother trip.”

For truckers, 2017 will mark the third increase in Illinois truck tolls since 2014 as part of a congestion relief program approved in 2008. By next year, they will be up a cumulative 60 percent since 2014.

“We are mad about it . . . We don’t mind paying our fair share, but we mind when more of the burden is on the trucking industry than cars,” said Matt Hart, executive director of the Illinois Trucking Association.