Okon: I-80 Tollway in the making? Looks like it

If you don’t like driving on Interstate 80 now, think how you’ll feel when you have to pay for the privilege.

No one has officially decided to turn the local stretch of I-80 into a tollway – yet.

But a resolution sponsored by state Rep. Larry Walsh Jr., D-Elwood, shows how momentum is headed in this direction.

The resolution still needs to get approval in both the House and Senate. But it basically gets the ball rolling on the tollway option by telling the governor to take the steps needed to start getting it done.

Of course, the theory behind the tollway strategy is that it's the fastest way to get the $1 billion or so needed to improve the stretch of I-80 that runs between Route 30 in New Lenox and Ridge Road in Minooka. The plan is expensive because it includes big projects such as replacing the I-80 bridge over the Des Plaines River.

The plan would suck up so much money that Walsh is doubtful it could get funded, at least in its entirety, in a 10-year capital bill now under consideration. And, if it did get funded, he said, there may not be much money left for Route 6, Route 30, Route 53 and you name it.

“If we’re talking all the money away, there’s nothing we can do for other needs we have throughout the district,” Walsh said.

Other needs include a new Interstate 55 interchange that Joliet and Cullinan Properties want for the sake of the future Rock Run Crossings development – the biggest plan in Joliet's future right now. The interchange is not funded yet, and a Cullinan executive at a March 22 groundbreaking urged those at the ceremony to support state legislation that could pay for it.

Meanwhile, Gov. J.B. Pritzker this month appointed two local people to the board that oversees the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority – Scott Paddock, president of Chicagoland Speedway, and Gary Perinar, executive secretary-treasurer for the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters.

If you don’t mind paying to get from Larkin Avenue to Richards Street in your crosstown travels, maybe you will like an improved I-80 Tollway in Joliet. My experience driving the section of I-80 in Illinois that is a tollway on my way to Indiana is that it’s every bit the semitrailer-loaded route, if not more so, than what we have here, although it does have more lanes.

Rialto board opening

There is an opening on the Will County Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority, the board that oversees the Rialto Square Theatre. Joe Carlasare, who often had to rush from his job with a Chicago law firm to make it to board meetings, submitted his resignation, citing new responsibilities at work.

Board members are appointed by the mayor of Joliet and the governor. Mayor Bob O’Dekirk has this appointment, Rialto board Chairman Robert Filotto said.

“Both Jeff Pearson [board vice chairman] and I have spoken to the mayor,” Filotto said. “We have recommended several names.”