AASHTO Journal - September 1, 2006
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on
Tuesday said he is opposed to selling the Illinois
Tollway to a private consortium – an approach some
other states have used to raise funds for road
projects. He cited the potential for higher tolls in
his remarks to the Rockford Register Star.
"We’re not going to sell the tollway.
I’m not interested in that, for several reasons.
We’ve done a lot of great things at the tollway to
help commuters get to where they want to go faster,"
Blagojevich said. "One of the problems with
privatizing the tollway is the private companies
whose motivation is to raise profits. They’re apt to
raise tolls, and they may be less interested in
maintaining the infrastructure," he said.
A study that was made public earlier
this week also predicted that tolls would increase
should the tollway be privatized. The governor, a
Democrat, also said he doesn’t think there’s enough
support in the state legislature to pass a tollway
privatization bill. He acknowledged that last
spring, he had said he was open to considering such
a move, but he said the information he has acquired
since then has led him to his current opinions.
"I said we’d take a look at it.
We’ve taken a look at it, and I’ve been very clear
that we’re not going to sell the tollway." The
governor’s GOP opponent in the Nov. 7 election, Judy
Baar Topinka, also opposes privatizing the tollway,
campaign spokesman Lance Trover told the Register
Star.
