Structure
The Tollway is governed by an 11-member board of directors. The Governor of Illinois and the head of the Illinois Department of Transportation serve as ex officio members of the Tollway Board. The remaining 9 members are named by the governor. No more than 5 appointed members may be of the same political party as the governor. The Authority has the power to collect and raise tolls, and is responsible for the maintenance and construction of tollway roads and related signage (including electronic message boards, used for driving time notices, Amber Alerts and other notifications). The Tollway also supervises and manages the seven Illinois Tollway oases. The close relationship between the governor and the near-majority of appointed board members has led to numerous allegations of endemic corruption throughout the tollway authority's lifetime.
The ISTHA's annual budget for fiscal year 2010 totals $696 million. The ISTHA has 1,704 full-time employees, of which 754 are toll collectors. As of January 1, 2010, ISTHA has $4,074,675,000 in bond debt, which have been rated Aa3, AA- and AA- by Moody’s Investors Service, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's, respectively. The ISTHA has the power to take lands by eminent domain, and ISTHA's employees are subject to conflict of interest laws enacted in 2005.
The Executive Director of ISTHA supervises 12 departments including Administration, Communications, Engineering, Directors and Executive, Finance, Information Technology, Inspector General, Legal, Toll Operations, Procurement, Business Systems, and Illinois State Police District 15. The Commander of District 15 of the State Police reports to both the Executive Director and to the Superintendent of the State Police, and the Tollway's General Counsel reports to both the Executive Director and the Illinois Attorney General.
The Tollway is patrolled by both police and non-police fleets. State police patrol the Tollway System to provide comprehensive law enforcement services, including enforcing speed limits and traffic laws, assisting disabled motorists, a canine anti-drug unit, and overweight vehicle enforcement. The Tollway comprises a separate Illinois State Police District 15, one of 21 districts of the Illinois State Police. ISTHA also operates a fleet of Highway Emergency Lane Patrol vehicles which assist stranded motorists with mechanical problems, flat tires or insufficient fuel. During 2008, the patrol assisted 38,031 motorists while logging nearly 1.5 million patrol miles.
Read more about this topic: Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
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