Tollway Leasing
Hearings are being held in central and southern Illinois this week on the proposal to lease the state’s 274 miles of toll roads. The carrot proponents are dangling in front of downstaters, many of whom live far from the toll system, is the possibility of an additional $14 billion for road construction.
“We should spend the money on transportation,” said Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston, who is pushing the proposal. “We should use part of the proceeds to leverage federal transportation funds.”
The senator also suggests $100 million be set aside to defray toll increases.
Skeptics argue that leasing the tollways could lead to higher tolls.
September 3, 2006 at 1:00 am
I think this is a short sighted approach to the state’s financial problems. Selling off assets is “not” an answer as it will ultimately costs taxpayers more in the long run and it will not solve a systemic problem which is spending what you don’t have and then going into debt.
On a similiar note, I personally hate tollways and aviod them whenever possible. The freedom to move about in this country “freely” without paying tolls should be a benefit we all pay for as taxpayers througout our lives. Those that came before us somehow found the money to make it happen – why can’t we?
Along this same lines, this same reasoning can be applied to access to our Natiional and in some cases State Parks and Historical Sites. It is a sad day when a low income parent cannot show their children the heritage and history of this counrty because of “user” fees. We are fortunate we don’t have to pay an “entrance fee” to our state parks like in Wisconsin and other states. Let’s hope we can keep that benefit, but who know where our Legislature and Governor will be looking to generate new revenue.