Thursday the Illinois Tollway announced speed limit increases for a handful of segments on its system including the Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80), the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) and the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355).

But traffic safety proponents are saying the proposed speed limit increases are being set at unsafely low levels.

According to the Tollway, increases will affect just 62% of Tollway system based on recommendations from Tollway traffic engineers and traffic studies commissioned by the agency.

The increases come in the wake of state legislation, and subsequent clarifying legislation that increased speed limits on all Illinois expressways to 70 mph on January 1st.

“The Tollway’s Traffic Engineer, a nationally recognized expert, reviewed speed limits on our system and has identified portions of our roadways where increases can be safely implemented,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Kristi Lafleur.

However very few areas of the Tollway are actually having speed limits raised to the maximum 70 mph the law calls for which has angered traffic safety activists who helped shepherd the bills into law.

They say the Tollway is suppressing speed limits by purposefully misinterpreting traffic data. Steve Doner, a former Illinois Chapter Coordinator for the National Motorists Association believes keeping the limits artificially low is a way to allow police to issue more speeding tickets.

“The conclusions reached by the Illinois Tollway Authority and CDM Smith, its consulting engineers, are astonishingly out of touch with reality and reek of bureaucracy, cronyism and an attempt to preserve speed trap revenues which are lucrative for police, courts, traffic attorneys, traffic schools and insurance companies to name a few,” says Dorner. “Worse, we believe that the Tollway is literally killing people because roughly 5% of drivers will obey the 55/60 mph limit and thus present a hazard on a roadway that is otherwise flowing safely at 70-80 mph.”

Speed limits are normally set using traffic data showing the speed of 85% of motorists driving during times of free flowing traffic under good weather and pavement conditions.

Dorner says the Tollway and its engineers are misapplying several adjustment factors in order to try to rationalize a lower limit.

“As a result (of improper calculations) they are proposing limits that are 10 to 20 mph below the 85th percentile speeds,” Doner explained. “We think the Tollway engineers engineered the study results using invalid adjustment factors to produce the result desired by its executives who seem to be out of touch with reality. Most states with the same data would post urban limits of 65 to 75 mph.”

Illinois Tollway’s Proposed Speed Limit Increases



Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80)

*I-294 from the I-57 Interchange to the I-55 Interchange – recommended increase from 55 to 60

mph for all traffic

*I-294 from Touhy Avenue to Deerfield Road – recommended increase from 55 to 60 for all traffic

*I-94 from Deerfield Road to Stearns School Road – recommended increase from 55 to 65 mph

for cars and buses, recommended increase from 55 to 60 mph for trucks

Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88)



*I-88 from Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) to Illinois Route 31 – recommended increase from 55

to 60 mph for all traffic

*I-88 from Illinois Route 31 to Orchard Road – recommended increase from 55 to 65 mph for

cars and buses, recommended increase from 55 to 60 mph for trucks

*I-88 from Orchard Road to the Kane/DeKalb County line – recommended increase from 55 to 65

mph for buses, recommended increase from 55 to 60 mph for trucks (cars remain at 65 mph)

Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355)



*I-355 from I-55 to Army Trail Road – recommended increase from 55 to 60 mph for all traffic

The Illinois Vehicle Code Section 603 outlines the process the Illinois Tollway is required to follow in

Share on Facebook