Reverse commute question

[chet everett]

Blago likes to hang his name on the abundant Toll Authority signage, but he mostly stays the hell out of their operations -- a damn good thing. Remember when he said he'd sell their HQ? Or do a lease to make some money? Well he can't. The toll authority issues a TON of bonds. The bond holders are VERY happy with things they way they are and would be VERY unhappy if Blago messed things up. For all the talk of the HQ being a deluxe building that totally overlooks the fact that the Toll Authority has quietly, safely, and effectively gone from dealing with literal TONS of quarters in specialized cash handling facility to instead have very high penetration of electronic toll collection. They've cut staff and get great productivity out of workers at every level.

The 88 toll plaza reconfiguration has been MUCH more involved than any other because of the various extra paths to/from 294 AND the proximity to lots of expensive office buildings in Oak Brook. They've moved the eastbound cash box way west of Myers Rd, where the toll authority had some land banked away back in the day they thought that might make for a nice oasis. The added east bound cash boxes east of Rt 83 that serve northbound 83 AND traffic from Midwest Rd. They've added fly over ramps from York Rd, reconfigured the westbound cash box and even widened the diagonal underpass for 22nd St. The also rebuild all the ramps and pavement in the area, adding lanes and smoothing out curves as much as possible. All-in-all it has been done really efficiently but the shear volume of traffic that has been redirected is enormous. From the toll perspective it is not that different than when they reconfigured the 294 plaza north of the Edens spur, but that did not involve another roadway running underneath the whole mess, which really complicates things...