Tollway Stories & More—2023 Volume 11

Volume 11, 2023

Illinois Tollway Takes Home Three International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association Awards

The Illinois Tollway hit the awards trifecta, winning three awards from the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association – including top honors among all winners of the coveted Toll Excellence Awards.

Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse picked up the new hardware at the IBTTA’s 91st Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Seattle. Honors included:

A Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award for the Illinois Tollway Partnering for Growth Program
A Toll Excellence Award in the Technology category for the TIMS2GO Mobile Incident Response Tool
TIMS2GO also received the IBTTA President’s Award, which is selected from among all the public- and private-sector winners of the Toll Excellence Awards

Read more at Inside the Tollway

2023 National Roadway Safety Awards Recognizes TIMS2GO

2023 National Roadway Safety Awards recognizes TIMS2GO

A 2023 National Roadway Safety Award from the Roadway Safety Foundation and the Federal Highway Administration was presented to the Illinois Tollway in Washington D.C.

The award recognizes the Tollway’s TIMS2GO Mobile Incident Response Tool, a mobile web application that provides its traffic managers with instant access to livestream video, incident details and status updates of roadway incidents on smartphones, tablets and laptops, helping them to quickly respond.

The 10 National Roadway Safety Award winners and two honorable mentions are using proactive, data-driven, collaborative and cost-effective approaches to better protect pedestrians, cyclists and motorists across the country.

Read more at Inside the Tollway

Illinois Tollway Salutes Military Veterans Working at the Agency

The Illinois Tollway is grateful and fortunate to have dozens of U.S. military veterans working in a variety of roles at our agency, whether they are assisting customers on our roads, maintaining our IT systems or helping design our latest roadway improvements.

They bring the skills, dedication and integrity from their military experiences to their work in this agency, helping ensure that we continue to provide the best possible service to our customers as we operate one of the finest highway systems in the nation.

Illinois Tollway Employees Donate 2,500 Pounds of Food for Local Families in Need

The Illinois Tollway is grateful to our more than 1.5 million daily customers, the communities we serve for their partnership and cooperation and everyone who works with us to make travel on our roadways safe and efficient.

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, Tollway employees collected a total of 2497 pounds of food to benefit the Downers Grove Area FISH Food Pantry, an all-volunteer not-for-profit organization that serves less-fortunate families and individuals in our community.

Illinois Tollway Ready to Roll to Keep Roads Clear of Snow and Ice This Winter

Whenever storms strike this winter, the Illinois Tollway will be ready to roll with the equipment, technology and staffing needed to keep our roads open and our customers safe.

We’re pleased to join with the Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois State Police to describe our preparations for winter weather and to remind drivers that they can help keep our roads safe during winter storms by slowing down and increasing their distance from other vehicles.

“Our highest priority this winter is protecting our customers by rapidly deploying our roadway workers and fleet of snowplows whenever severe weather strikes to keep our roads clear of snow and ice,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse.

“We’ll do whatever it takes this winter to keep our customers safe, but we’re asking drivers to help us protect them by slowing down during storms and increasing their distance from other vehicles, especially snowplows and emergency responders. If they become stranded along the road, drivers should dial *999 for assistance and remain with their vehicles because even during severe weather, help is only a phone call away.”

Read more here about the steps the Tollway and other state agencies are taking to protect drivers this winter.

Illinois Tollway and gROWing Chicago Habitat Working Group Committed to Creating Pollinator-friendly Habitats

As one of more than 200 organizations in the gROWing Chicago Habitat Working Group, the Illinois Tollway works in collaboration with a broad spectrum of private industry, government, non-profits and academia to support wildlife habitat throughout the region.

“Being part of a gROWing Chicago Habitat gives us the chance to share best practices and strategies to get the most of the Tollway’s investments in green infrastructure.” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse. “As part of our commitment to environmental responsibility, the Illinois Tollway looks for ways to use our rights-of-way and other lands to support habitat creation, conservation and restoration.”

Read more at Inside the Tollway

Building Bridges Raises O'Hare Airport Lights to Clear a Path for the New I-490 Tollway

The Illinois Tollway is building four unusual bridges along the western edge of O’Hare International Airport that won’t carry cars, trucks or even pedestrians.

As part of its work to build the new I-490 Tollway, the Tollway is constructing the bridges to support the specialized approach lights used to help guide commercial jets to safe landings on O’Hare Airport runways.

The new I-490 Tollway will run near the edge of O’Hare Airport and its planned path will take it directly through approach lighting systems for four runways. At each runway location, a string of more than a dozen approach lights flash sequentially to direct jets during the landing process.

Read more at Inside the Tollway