Commuters who use I-88, I-355 or I-294 will pay 45 cents more per toll starting Jan. 1, 2027, after the Illinois Tollway Board voted 8-0 on Wednesday, Aug. 19, to approve the largest toll rate increase in state history.
The vote was unanimous.
The decision, made at the Tollway's headquarters at 2700 Ogden Ave. in Downers Grove, locks in a 57% jump for I-Pass passenger vehicles. A toll that costs 75 cents today will rise to $1.20. On I-355 at Spring Creek, the toll jumps from $1.90 to $3.05. Drivers without I-Pass will pay 90 cents more per toll, and commercial vehicle tolls rise 30%, according to Patch.
For a Downers Grove or Woodridge resident hitting two I-Pass tolls each way, five days a week, 50 weeks a year, the increase adds roughly $450 annually, The Center Square reported. Three tolls each way could mean nearly $500 more per year, according to WGN-TV.
It is the first toll increase for passenger vehicles since 2012.
$26.5 billion capital plan
The rate hike funds a 15-year, $26.5 billion capital program called "Driving Connections," covering nearly 300 miles of tollway through 2042. The corridors most used by local commuters are getting major investments:
- I-355 (Veterans Memorial Tollway): $6.63 billion, the largest single-corridor allocation. Work includes improving the I-355/I-88 interchange and widening segments between I-55 and Army Trail Road. The corridor runs directly through Woodridge.
- I-88 (Reagan Memorial Tollway): $3.53 billion for reconstruction and widening between the Aurora Toll Plaza and the Eisenhower Expressway. I-88 runs through Downers Grove.
- I-294 (Central Tri-State Tollway): $1.87 billion for roadway and bridge reconstruction from Balmoral Avenue to Wolf Road. I-294 borders Westmont.
Starting in 2029, tolls will be adjusted every two years for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index, capped at 4% per year.
How it happened
The Tollway's authority to raise rates came from Senate Bill 2111, a transit funding package signed by Gov. JB Pritzker. In 2025, lawmakers redirected $1.1 billion from the state road fund to shore up the Regional Transit Authority, and Pritzker brokered a deal authorizing the Tollway to raise rates as an offset, according to WGN-TV.
At the Aug. 19 meeting, Tollway Board Chairman Arnie Rivera thanked Pritzker for his leadership and his confidence in the agency to execute a plan of this scale, according to the Daily Herald. Hours later at the Illinois State Fair, Pritzker distanced himself: "That was something voted on by the tollway authority." Pritzker appoints the board's directors.
Opposition was loud
A Freedom of Information Act request by the Illinois Policy Institute found that 76% of nearly 14,000 public comments collected by the Tollway opposed the increase. The public comment period closed Aug. 3.
"This massive one-time increase could have been delayed until the economy improves or at a minimum rejected in light of the fact that the tollway has seen its income increase at or in excess of the rate of inflation each of the last several years," former Tollway director and former Waukegan mayor Bill Morris said at the meeting, according to the Daily Herald.
Mike Moran, president of Elk Grove Village-based Moran Transportation Corp., said at the meeting that the hike would be crippling to consumers, warning that goods prices would rise and trucks would avoid the tollway as a result.
The Tollway is a user-funded system that receives no state or federal tax dollars. Residents can estimate their 2027 costs using the trip calculator at illinoistollway.com/drivingconnections.
