Illinois Transportation Agencies Working Together to Shape the Future of Mobility

Date Date 2025-07-02

The Chicago area’s transportation future is being shaped by strong partnerships, innovative thinking and a shared vision for mobility.

The Illinois Tollway’s ongoing collaboration with Pace Suburban Bus reflects a growing commitment to designing highways that support transit – paving the way for a more seamless, multimodal future in Northern Illinois.

“For the Tollway, it’s about more than building roads,” said Illinois Tollway Chief of Planning Karyn Robles. “It’s about building a system that integrates transit, improves access and expands economic opportunity.”

This forward-looking partnership took center stage at the recent Transport Chicago conference, where industry professionals and researchers came together to share their knowledge and insights to create mobility solutions in Chicago and beyond.

The Illinois Tollway, Pace and the Illinois Department of Transportation shared how joint planning and coordinated investment are already delivering real benefits for communities across Northern Illinois.

The Tollway’s work with Pace exemplifies this shift.

One standout example: the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) Rebuilding and Widening Project. As part of that work, completed in 2016, the Tollway committed to supporting transit along a 16-mile section of I-90 from Hoffman Estates to the Kennedy Expressway near O’Hare International Airport.

A major innovation was the addition of flex lanes that allow buses to travel on the inside shoulders if Tollway traffic speeds drop below 35 mph. This built on the success of Pace’s earlier bus-on-shoulder service on the Stevenson Expressway (I-55) and Edens Expressway (I-94) in partnership with IDOT, which led to faster travel times, particularly during peak travel times, and increased ridership.

The Tollway also introduced park-n-ride stations for the first time on the Tollway system to make Pace bus rapid transit service more efficient and “rail-like.” This included the region’s first in-line bus rapid transit station at Barrington Road in Hoffman Estates – complete with kiss-n-ride facilities, pedestrian underpasses and an enclosed, climate-controlled overpass to connect commuters to buses traveling in both directions.

Today, that spirt of innovation continues. As part of the ongoing reconstruction of the Central Tri-State Tollway (I-294), the Tollway is incorporating flexible infrastructure that can support future “smart” features, as well as accommodations for Pace buses.

Its partnership with Pace is reshaping how the Tollway thinks about planning.

As a leader in integrated transportation planning, the Tollway is demonstrating how collaboration among transportation agencies can drive projects that truly prioritize what matters most – helping people reach their destinations regardless of the mode. The Tollway is at the forefront of efforts to incorporate transit and other mobility options from the outset, while continuing to champion safety, sustainability and equitable access for all.