I-80 is only toll on the portions that it shares with I-90/94. It is non-toll through the majority of Illinois. I-88 is toll from I-290/294 until it meets with I-80 near Iowa.
OP, How could you miss the toll plazas? There are multiple large signs leading up to each plaza, not to mention the clearly visible manual lanes and the signs above the roadway as you pass through the plaza. Just admit that you got caught trying to dodge the tolls and pay up. The people of Illinois would appreciate it.
Wow. Open road tolling is possibly the worst, more unethical idea there is. Unfortunately, like all things that cater to greed, it is becoming more prevalent. Maybe it’s okay for the commuters who drive the same route every day, but for the tourists passing through just once and getting caught up in this, that’s just evil.
I live in Colorado with a transponder. When I first used it, I was billed -even though you have to put a $30 down (pre pay!) on your pass and link it to a credit card for when you go over. Guess what? It magically didn’t work when I first got it and they tried to tell me I owed like $200 from one airport trip. And my license plate has changed since, so I’ll definitely get billed again if I don’t get that fixed on my account soon…of course I can’t remember my password/login to the EZ website.
Grrr.
So yeah, I hate those business models.
I forgot about the signs at the on ramps for toll roads that say “TOLL” and the orangish-yellow signs on the roadside markers that also say “TOLL.” There are also signs posted past each toll plaza instructing drivers how to pay a missed toll. It would take a conscious effort by the driver to miss the fact that they were on a toll road and expected to pay that toll.
No sympathy for you.
:dubious: No it’s not. There are toll booths at every place where there are open road toll archways too, at least to the best of my recollection. These may be a bit confusing for tourists at times, but it’s not like they’re traps that you’re forced to go through.
Open road tolling exists to speed traffic. Those who have the I-Pass (or EZ-Pass or whatever the other various compatible transponders are) get the benefit of zipping through; those who don’t just dodge off to the side and take the old-fashioned toll booths.
I would suggest Illinois’ Attorney General as I think and that’s a big I think, the Illinois toll booth systems are a private enterprise.
Well, I was assuming the OP was just driving west. I see now that the claim is he spent a night in Chicago, but it doesn’t make sense to head up into that nightmare traffic just to stay at a hotel in the city. I was kinda thinking he was in the Chicago area, and would logically be on 80.
I certainly agree that it’s essentially impossible to MISS the cash toll plazas in Il. But if the OP can miss stiff like that, maybe he doesn’t really know where Chicago ends and the rest of the state begins either. The area south of the city is certainly built up and indistinguishable from it without a map,
My personal experience with the I-Pass is just the opposite of the OPs. When I drive down to Chicago, it’s pretty common for the system to fail, but in my favor. For one reason or another the sensors don’t detect my I-Pass, or my account doesn’t get charged, and they’ve never come after me for unpaid tolls or charged me retroactively.
Thank you all for replies. I found many replies very helpful. Again, appreciate the helpful input.
To those who questioned why I would miss the signs for the toll plazas, I can only answer that it happens. Whether how impossible it is to miss the signs, I tried to pay for the toll the day I suspected I had missed them, and later tried to pay for the $83.20 violation fines. However, the fee still rolled up to $566.30. This indicates that any drivers who miss the sign, will very likely have to pay 177 times of the original toll fee.
I assume Illinois drivers will despite this fact, because they are well-protected by their government. Whom have been taken advantages of are the non-Illinois drivers. Of course, this problem isn’t only happen in Illinois, for example, many non-California drivers will easily receive $280 to $1000 fines when they coincidentally drive on the bus lines. As some other users reflected, in Florida, Texas, and Colorado, there are systems just like Illinois’. My suggestion can only be, maybe tollway system should simply be abandoned or unified - so drivers can easily go through the states without getting into troubles - drivers don’t have to do research about the difference between states when they need to get on the road.
Do you have an I-pass or not? Did you know you were on a toll road? What road were you on?
It’s not factual that I did not see the instruction for drivers to pay a missed toll. I saw it and I called the Illinois Tollway Customer Service Center, but it refused to let me pay for it until it escalated to $283.20, and skillfully charged $566.40.
Even if I did, like you said, missed all that, it still doesn’t make it reasonable or legal for Illinois Tollway to charge $566.40 for $3.20.
Base on your theory, any drivers who are nor from Illinois will be responsible to pay average $150 if they miss a toll plaza, which violates the federal collation order of 100 times’ fine - $80.
I hope you can switch your position to mine, and imagine if you were driving in California one day and suddenly get pulled over and receive a $1000 ticket when the police officer tells you that it is because you are driving on a bus line. Would you be happen when someone says there are signs telling you driving on a bus line will result at fines of $280 or more?
I did not have i-pass. I was not sure which road I was on. I am not a very good sign reader because I am used to follow GPS instruction. This is what I need to learn to improve in the future - however, it doesn’t change the fact that Illinois Tollway Customer Center refused to let me pay for the fee before it escalated, and it doesn’t change the fact that they charged me $566.40 even though by laws, they can only charge it for $283.20.
Are you American? Is the highway system unfamiliar to you?
No, in fact I paid for $7 to $12 toll after I saw the signs. And I, in fact, did call the Illinois Tollway Customer Center and tried to find out I missed any tolls. I think you are holding a bias against me. This is not mentally healthy - and very likely, the workers in Illinois Tollway Customer Center can live with themselves because they are holding the similar bias - that out of state drivers try to avoid paying for tolls, so they deserve to be punished severely. Even after the fine of $83.20 was issued, I tried to pay for it, but Illinois Tollway Customer Center trapped my payment, and let the fee escalated. If I really did not want to pay for the toll, I would have ignore anything from the Illinois Tollway. It’s time for some Illinois people to stop being full of themselves and show some objective thinking for other good people’s benefit.
I was not born in America. I am not familiar with American highway system.
What does this mean?
Toll fine cannot be escalated more than 100 times in the U.S.
It sounds like you tried to find out if you had a violation fee before the system even had time to process the tolls…I’m sure it takes a day or two for things to get “into the system” and even though you were told you had no violations, it was because you were asking too soon. Then, because you haven’t been following the laws about changing your driver’s license to your new state, the mail notification took some time to catch up to you. Don’t know how your credit card number got messed up, but was it possibly a debit card and the charge was denied because you didn’t have the funds in on the day they tried to take the payment? At any rate, you took someone’s word that a “pending” charge “suggested” that the payment was being reversed…when it doesn’t mean that at all. Charges can be marked as “pending” for several days, especially over a weekend, and then even disappear for a brief time before being accepted as legitimate charges. So on this person’s ill-informed word, you then authorized the second charge, which they will surely refund you when it is all said and done, but it won’t happen instantly, because their system doesn’t work that fast. So it’s just a huge kerfluffle, possibly made worse by a possible language gap (it seems perhaps English is not your first language) but hardly an organized conspiracy to extort money from tourists. And there are plenty of ways to drive across the country that don’t involve toll-roads, they are just slower.
I have never heard of that, and I can’t imagine it’s true. How did you learn of this?
I am sure a great percentage of drivers have gotten out of violations, whether intentionally or unitentionally. In my case, I intentionally like to pay and respect the authority, but the authority did not respect me. On the other hand, they used and persecuted my good intention. If I intentionally like to avoid the payment and later the fines, I might not have any troubles at all - or at least, I would not have any more troubles. Maybe it is a good thing for the authority to focus on those ones who actually have bad intention? Or are they too tough to deal with, so the authority only has guts to bully good people?
And Jim, the information of 100 times fine might not be authoritative, I just heard it from a friend of mine who claims to know about laws, and is attending a law school.
And Kittenblue, I can only hope what you say will be true. I am very sure I have enough fund in my credit card for the payment - and more importantly, why would they wait for three weeks to contact me when they realized the credit card wasn’t working - assuming they really did try to charge the credit card. Many things don’t make sense here.
You’re welcome to your opinion but when I drove from Chicago to Washington DC, I loved the fact that I didn’t have to stop for a single toll along the way due to open road tolling and agreements between the tollway authorities of the various eastern & Midwestern states.