I-PASS questions

[1992casey]

That's good news. I wasn't willing to rely on auto-replenishment to cover an estimated $80 in tolls in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. But generally, my usage is confined to Illinois. That's a pretty safe risk. I'd be difficult to accumulate enough tolls in a single day to run one's account down to zero. I'd have the time to do my driving, then check to see if funds were automatically added.

[Patrick425]

I travel to Illinois rarely, maybe once a year. I went to meet a friend a couple of weeks ago at Arlington Park and forgot about tolls. This wasn't a problem when I was on the tollway, as I could get change from the attendant, but when I exited the tollway, it needed exact change, which I did not have (and did not have again when I got back on the tollway later in the day). Not a big problem I thought, I'll just hop online and pay it. So, within the 7-day grace period I hop online and click on a link to look up my violation by license plate number. However, I get a message that the system is down and that they have extended the grace period is extended to 14 days (and to check back later). I go back on this week (within the 14 day period) and it keeps giving me the same message, so I call. They inform me that they can not look up my license (because the system is down), but they can estimate my toll if I know the plaza numbers (or where I exited and entered). I wasn't comfortable with this because I can just see a situation where the estimate is incorrect and I underpay and then get an additional charge for not paying on time. She then tells me that I can wait and I will eventually get something in the mail, to which I reply A) Yes, but that will be after the grace period and B) How is it that you can not look me up in your system, but somehow they are able to send me something in the mail to tell me I didn't pay?

 

All I'm trying to do is be responsible and pay a small toll. Why do they make is so difficult?

 

I believe the same thing happened to me 4 or 5 years ago (got to an exit ramp and did not have the proper change) and I completely forgot to go online and attempt to make the payment. Never saw anything in the mail regarding any unpaid toll. So, I'm guessing they probably don't bother with one time offenses that are small.

[MrTPlush]

I travel to Illinois rarely, maybe once a year. I went to meet a friend a couple of weeks ago at Arlington Park and forgot about tolls.

 

If you are traveling from the Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin direction you are better off just avoiding the tolls. It barely adds any time to your trip and you don't have to give money to the state of Illinois or in this case a broken I-PASS system. The drive is typically a lot better than dealing with idiots on the freeway too. Lots of 55mph roads to casually avoid the toll roads.

 

If your grace period passes just wait for something in the mail because it will probably never come.

[1992casey]

You have to have three violations to get a notice. I believe that the time to pay has been extended beyond the 14 days mentioned on the website, but don't quote me on that.

 

It's easy enough to avoid the tollway if you're going toward Chicago proper, but I don't know that I'd want to take alternate routes to O'Hare or the suburbs to the west of the airport. That's getting more complicated and potentially obnoxious.

 

Another glitch in the system is that while my tolls from outside of Illinois are now trickling into my account, the locations where these tolls were paid are completely ambiguous. The site's activity page is supposed to show the agency who charged me, e.g. Pennsylvania Turnpike, Ohio Turnpike, Indiana Toll Road, or Chicago Skyway. But right now, all it shows for location are numbers like 51, 135, 239, 1, 2, and 42. That's supposed to be fixed next week.

[Patrick425]

I travel to Illinois rarely, maybe once a year. I went to meet a friend a couple of weeks ago at Arlington Park and forgot about tolls.

 

If you are traveling from the Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin direction you are better off just avoiding the tolls. It barely adds any time to your trip and you don't have to give money to the state of Illinois or in this case a broken I-PASS system. The drive is typically a lot better than dealing with idiots on the freeway too. Lots of 55mph roads to casually avoid the toll roads.

 

 

Yeah...tried that once on the way home. Never again. I don't know...maybe it's the same time as using the freeway, but I have no patience for all the towns I had to go through and I really, really hate extended miles of busy two lane highways (I'm the guy you probably hate on the freeway). Seems like I had to wait at every light at least 2 or 3 turns before I got through it.

 

Other than the tolls, the free way was nice...had not been on it since they did some of the road work. Pretty much 4 lanes all the way from the state line to my exit in Illinois..very nice.

[MrTPlush]

I travel to Illinois rarely, maybe once a year. I went to meet a friend a couple of weeks ago at Arlington Park and forgot about tolls.

 

If you are traveling from the Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin direction you are better off just avoiding the tolls. It barely adds any time to your trip and you don't have to give money to the state of Illinois or in this case a broken I-PASS system. The drive is typically a lot better than dealing with idiots on the freeway too. Lots of 55mph roads to casually avoid the toll roads.

 

 

Yeah...tried that once on the way home. Never again. I don't know...maybe it's the same time as using the freeway, but I have no patience for all the towns I had to go through and I really, really hate extended miles of busy two lane highways (I'm the guy you probably hate on the freeway). Seems like I had to wait at every light at least 2 or 3 turns before I got through it.

 

I guess that largely depends on where you are going. I frequent Kenosha-Schaumburg Area and that drive avoiding the tolls is pretty easy. The only towns you hit are Gurnee/Mundelein, but neither do you really go into the city and the traffic is light. I think it adds 10 miles/15 minutes which I live with. Of course one must take specific roads to avoid all the traffic and for someone only going into the area occasionally it may not be worth it. For me it is enough where I don't have to pay Illinois $200+ in tolls every year so you won't see me on the toll roads.

[1992casey]

Other than the tolls, the free way was nice...had not been on it since they did some of the road work. Pretty much 4 lanes all the way from the state line to my exit in Illinois..very nice.

 

I used to avoid that route like the plague, but now I prefer it for getting from Wisconsin to Indiana. It's eight lanes from northern Kenosha County to about 10 miles into Indiana. One glitch, however, is that the stretch heading westbound in Indiana backs up easily, despite the added capacity.

 

I previously preferred going straight through the city, but that entailed getting through downtown — namely the Jane Byrne (Circle) Interchange — early enough or late enough to avoid backups.

 

I don't think I'd be up for the adventure of driving to Schaumburg on the surface roads. I think tolls are about $2.15 for that route (discounted). You can get from Wisconsin to Indiana without paying tolls. But you'd want to make sure you avoid downtown between approximately 7[space][/space]AM and 9[space][/space]PM. I think it's easier to pay $4.40 in tolls to have more flexibility.

[MrTPlush]

You can get from Wisconsin to Indiana without paying tolls. But you'd want to make sure you avoid downtown between approximately 7[space][/space]AM and 9[space][/space]PM. I think it's easier to pay $4.40 in tolls to have more flexibility.

 

Yuck wouldn't one have to take I90 downtown to avoid tolls all the way to Indiana? That surely is not worth $5. Actually you might have to pay me to drive that. I was definitely only referring to the N/NW suburbs area. Anything past that and traffic becomes a big pain off the freeway since there are so many cities packed together.

[gypcasino]

I-90 is a toll road. If you're driving from SE WI to Indiana and want to avoid tolls I guess US 41 would be your best bet but then you're driving right through the city on Lakeshore Dr and between 7am & 9pm forget it.

[1992casey]

Once it hits the Edens, I-94 is free the rest of the way to Indiana. To go completely free you'd take US-41 from the Wisconsin line to the Edens, where you re-join I-94. Then you continue on I-94 through several freeway name changes until it merges with I-80. Then you take I-80/94 into Indiana. As I mentioned, you only want to do this when the Circle Interchange isn't backed up.

 

I-90 is tolled from south of Beloit until Rosemont (near O'Hare), where it hits the Kennedy. It's free along the Kennedy and Dan Ryan. The tolls start again when I-90 leaves the Ryan and heads off along the Chicago Skyway.

 

If you take the Skyway from Indiana into Chicago, I've found that Lake Shore Drive is a viable alternate route if your destination is in the direction of Milwaukee and it's not peak rush hour. Traffic is heavy, but it's not like going through the Circle Interchange. If you stick to Lake Shore Drive far enough north, surface streets connecting to the Edens are pretty good, e.g. you can get to Peterson Ave. and head over to the Edens.

 

If you're on LSD northbound and you want to head off toward O'Hare and Rockford, the surface streets to cut over to the freeway (in this case, the Kennedy) aren't so good. Addison is slow; there's a traffic light at just about every intersection and it doesn't have dedicated left turn lanes. Irving Park Road is usually good, but it enters the freeway at a bad spot; you have to make a couple of lane changes in less than a mile to continue toward O'Hare/Rockford. Lawrence enters the freeway at a perfect spot as you avoid the Edens Junction, but it's almost as slow as Addison. It's a pick your poison situation. Also, this stretch of the Kennedy is likely to be backed up. But the stretch is relatively short, so you're not backed up for that long.

 

Taking Lake Shore Drive toward Indiana isn't as viable. You have to double back several miles to the west to enter either the Dan Ryan or the Skyway.

 

My objective is to use a route where traffic moves instead of sits. Whether or not I pay tolls is secondary. The Tri-State Tollway around Chicago (I-294 near the city and I-94 between Deerfield and Wisconsin) seems to be the best option right now.

[homer]

I90 is a tollway from roughly O'Hare out to Rockford. It's toll free from O'Hare to downtown.

If you are taking I90 from Janesville/Madison, etc. to Indiana and want to avoid tolls you are in trouble.

 

I94 is a tollway from the WI/IL state line until roughly Lake-Cook road near the far northern suburbs.

You can avoid tolls by taking Hwy 41 right after you cross the border. It's actually shorter but there are something like a dozen lights to deal with. Hwy 41 meets up with I94 again in the northern burbs (right after toll way ends) If I'm not in a huge hurry I take this route all the time.

 

I90 and I94 merge into one giant road right as you enter the city. It is almost always a mess at that point. They stay merged until you get to the south side of town. If you stay on I94 you won't have tolls but if you are on I90 you will. Tolls on I90 start up again when it splits from I94 on the south side (This is the Skyway Bridge).

 

As for traffic, yeah it kind of stinks most of the time. But there are definitely lulls. If you get to I94/I90 merge between roughly 1030 and 230 you probably won't have too many delays. You won't be driving 60mph or anything but you might be able to average 45mph. Google Maps or Waze are your friends when telling you which route is fastest at a particular time of day.

[MrTPlush]

Yah you can't avoid the tolls from the Beloit direction. The roads are just too slow and the distance is too far it really stretches out travel time.