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Illinois Tollway team leaves Blagojevich era behind

Kristi Lafleur, the new executive director of the Illinois Tollway System has created a transition team to lead the embattled system into a new era, and the team includes trucking officials.

Much like current Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Lafleur inherited sour grapes left by impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his alleged pay-to-play schemes involving Illinois Tollway construction projects.

Hoping for some better public relations and a new direction for policy, Lafleur announced in April the creation of the Tollway Transition Team, scheduled to meet for the first time on Monday, May 24. One of the 27 team members is Don Schaefer, executive director of the Midwest Truckers Association.

“The idea there is to open up some dialogue more than anything else, to open up some lines of communication,” Schaefer told Land Line Now on Sirius XM.

“Everybody has something to bring to the table, and everybody is going at it from the same standpoint that this is something new.”

Team members include business and economic development officials, AAA, area motor carrier and trucker groups, contractors, labor groups and road builders.

“The Tollway executive director’s overall goal is to have the team provide input that will assist the Tollway in determining what’s next for the agency,” Tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis told Land Line Magazine .

“The focus is on environmental responsibility, customer service, transparency and accountability, economic development and regional collaboration.”

Schaefer says the industry has seen its share of battles with the Tollway during the past seven years, including toll increases that applied only to commercial trucks and not cars.

“The bottom line is that I think there’s a sincere effort on the part of the Tollway to open things up so that the industry – which pays a significant percentage of the tolls on the system – has some sort of voice or recognition when it comes to discussing Tollway issues,” he said.

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– Land Line Now Senior Correspondent Terry Scruton contributed to this article.
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