I chuckled at your statement regarding the financial drain-- some of the locals I talk with complain that downstate doesn't pull its weight and that tax money from here heads down there -- I guess I'm still too much a downstater to agree with that, but its telling how different Chicagoans and all other Illinoisans are!
I agree with your I-57 90/94 remark -- if it isn't bad drivers then its construction season. I typically get a headache driving back from Champaign.
With the exception of actual construction (for which I am not sure) -- I think the toll ways are suppose to pay for themselves -- that is, the toll keepers, gates etc. as well as the IL State Police Tollway district (it is seperate from the rest of the IL St. Police) -- I would guess that some of the money collected pays for improvements too (repaving, new lanes, tow services, Oases). Plus -- the Skyway (a seperate entity all too itself) was just sold to a private company (European) -- which paid Chicago a lot of money for the pleasure of running the tollway and keeping those tolls (which were just raised recently too) for 99 years. see:
http://a.abcnews.com/Business/wireStory?id=203589 I'm not sure you can use I-pass there?
I didn't think you were coming off too strong -- but I also didn't want to be the standard bearer for the toll system -- I live in the area so I-pass makes sense to me -- and as the others have stated, its made the tollways that much easier to drive.