Talk:Illinois Tollway

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There is a statement in this article that says that the Illinois Tollways are the only tollways to accept pennies. This is a myth that began on the West Wing television show. The fact is pennies are also acceptable to the automated collection machines at the westpoint toll barrier on the Indiana Toll Road.


 * You give West Wing too much credit. The bit about the Lincoln Pennies/Land of Lincoln has been a bit of Illinois folklore for as long as I can remember, and I've been an Illinois resident for over 20 years.

Further, the seven oases on the Illinois Tollway system are being reconstructed and will be managed under a long term lease agreement with Wilton Partners and Exxon/Mobil.


 * The details of that agreement are in fact covered in the Illinois Tollway oasis article, and are left out here, to prevent redundancy. --JohnDBuell 23:08, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Tollway in Chicago

 * "ISTHA manages four toll routes in Illinois. None enter the city of Chicago, by design."

This is false. If we are to go by Wikipedia's map of Chicago, then I-294 must cross the Chicago city limits at the gooseneck between O'Hare and the Kennedy. Rosemont is to the north, and Schiller Park is to the south. &mdash;Joseph/N328KF (Talk) 22:24, 15 February 2006 (UTC)


 * That's correct, but it's only on a technicality. None of the tollways were designed to reach into downtown Chicago, period. That's what I-290 and 90/94 are for. It would be more accurate to say either: "None of them have the City of Chicago as an endpoint, by design" (unlike I-290) or "None of them enter Chicago's Loop, by design." --JohnDBuell 23:38, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Technical Construction Trivia

 * Though most Interstate Highways have twelve foot wide lanes, most (all?) of the Illinois Tollway lanes are 12.5 feet wide. This was for 1950s/1960s marketing, plus it actually makes driving a little easier.  Next time you drive it, take a look.
 * The concrete pavement is typically thicker than other Chicagoland Expressways, so it tends to last longer and ride smoother.
 * The concrete median barriers along I-80 near Thorton were amongh the first in the world to be slip-formed (no traditional wooden forms needed). Low-slump concrete went in the hopper, and the constantly-moving, self-propelled slip-form machine would form it on-the-fly.
 * (I may sound pro-ISTHA and many would call them the Evil Empire, but they had lots of money 30 years ago, and would spend it on first-rate maintenance. They hired us as engineering consultants during the summer, which helped pay for my college tuition).


 * If you've got verifiable external sources for any or all of these (online or printed), go ahead and toss them into the article. It'd make a unique addition! --JohnDBuell 17:24, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Historical Timeline in article is incorrect

 * In History section it states:

In the 1970s, the East–West Tollway was extended west from Sugar Grove to Dixon, Illinois with a freeway continuing to the Quad Cities. In 2004, ISTHA voted to rename this route the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway. The route was later given the Interstate-88 designation in order to obtain a higher speed limit. However, the timeline is backwards. The route was given the Interstate-88 designation in the mid-80's, shortly after the 65 MPH speed limit for interstates was approved, and later was renamed as the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway. The reference to Reagan was because the road runs close to Dixon, the town Reagan lived in as a boy, and Eureka, the town where he attended college. Wedriscoll (talk) 13:51, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Copyright problem removed
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Requested move 24 March 2023

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. Per minimal participation, this RM is termed as unopposed. (closed by non-admin page mover)  ❯❯❯  Raydann  (Talk)   10:21, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

Illinois State Toll Highway Authority → Illinois Tollway – The term "Illinois Tollway" is more commonly used and more concise versus the "Illinois State Toll Highway Authority", as indicated on Google Trends, the official website, and numerous news/journal outlets (,, , and others). AlphaBeta135 talk 22:50, 24 March 2023 (UTC) The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.