For the first time, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has started shipping I-PASS transponders to truckers, with nearly 100,000 trucker transponders being sent out, according to the Chicago Daily Herald.

By October, truckers who have been using special credit cards to pay their tolls should be able to use I-PASS to automatically pay the tolls without stopping. By the end of the year, certain plazas will have a lane dedicated solely to truckers with an I-PASS, reports the Herald.
Trucks had been excluded from I-PASS in the past because the system was only meant for passenger vehicles. Because big rigs are too large to use the I-PASS lanes dedicated for cars, wider lanes have been created for trucks, which will be able to roll past the toll booths at 5 mph, taking them only six to eight seconds to pay the toll.
This year, truck I-PASS lanes will be created on the Tri-State Tollway at Irving Park Road, Cermak Road, 82nd and 83rd streets, and at South Beloit on the Northwest Tollway. Next year, truck lanes are targeted for the Waukegan plaza, Touhy Avenue and Devon Avenue on the Tri-State, and York Road on the East-West Tollway. In 2002, truck lanes will go in at Belvidere, Marengo/Hampshire and Elgin on the Northwest Tollway; and at Joliet Road on the south end of the North-South Tollway.