Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future

Move Illinois Logo In 2011, the Tollway completed a comprehensive 18-month review and public discussion of the Illinois Tollway's needs for its existing system and opportunities to improve regional mobility. As a result of the public input and discussion, the Illinois Tollway Board of Directors adopted the 15-year, $12 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future.

This program will address the remaining needs of the existing Tollway System: rebuild and widen the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) as a 21st century, state-of-the-art corridor linking Rockford to O'Hare Airport; construct a new, all-electronic interchange to connect the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to I-57 – one of only two places in the nation where interstates cross but do not connect; build a new all-electronic Elgin O'Hare West Bypass; and fund planning studies for the Illinois Route 53 Extension and the Illiana Expressway. Move Illinois will improve mobility, relieve congestion, reduce pollution, and link economies across Northern Illinois.

Further, Move Illinois will be the "cleanest and greenest" program in the Tollway's history by seeking to minimize the environmental impact of new roadway construction by reducing, recycling and reusing materials.

Congestion costs the Chicagoland area an estimated $8.2 billion annually. The Move Illinois program is projected to create more than 120,000 permanent jobs and add $21 billion to the economy. The Illinois Tollway is committed to ensuring that this region remains competitive with other major cities in the U.S. and around the world and unlocking the economic potential of the region for years to come.

The Move Illinois program is funded by bonds and toll revenue generated through a toll rate increase for passenger vehicles in 2012 and a previously approved increase for commercial vehicles beginning in 2015. Seventy-five percent of Tollway customers had not had a toll increase since 1983 – nearly 30 years ago. Even with the toll rate change that took effect on January 1, 2012, the Illinois Tollway ranks 29th among all 41 toll road agencies in the U.S. in terms of price – still in the bottom third at an average of just 6 cents per mile for passenger vehicles.