The Hound is all a twitter over Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan for "green" lanes on the tollway. That usually means we tollway hikers will pay the green.
The Illilnois Toll Highway Authority on Thursday approved creating high occupancy vehicle lanes, aka carpool lanes at a cost of $400 million. Yikes, that is a lot of green!
The "green lane" concept will convert the left lanes of the tollway's most-congested areas into carpool lanes. Does that mean the Lake County portion of the Tri-State seeing that we're under construction siege? Probably not, knowing the tollway.
Here's the plan: If you're driving with at least one other passenger, you can use these lanes and pay the regular I-Pass rate. If you're driving by yourself, you'd have to pay a higher rate. Um, but how will you catch carpool cheats in these green "free-flow" lanes? Who knows?
The Hound has seen similar commuter lanes in other cities, such as Nashville, where cops have caught some motorists in the "diamond" lanes with those plastic blow-up dolls riding shotgun. What the drivers do with those dolls after they get to their destinations are anybody's guess.
The tollway wants to have 80 miles of these green lanes ready by 2010, which may or may not be the target date when the Tri-State construction ends in Lake County. Speaking of green, wouldn't kicking off the program on St. Patrick's Day 2010 be grand?
Note to the governator: There is no pot of gold at the end of the 2010 rainbow for you.
Leave a comment