Tollway looks for a little help for H.E.L.P.

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Updated: May 3, 2011 12:15AM

DOWNERS GROVE — The Illinois Tollway is searching for a corporate sponsor for its Highway Emergency Lane Patrol (H.E.L.P.) program that offers roadway assistance to customers in need.

“We’ve been actively exploring ways to generate new revenue for the tollway,” Executive Director Kristi Lafleur said Thursday. “If we can find a sponsor to help offset these operating costs and continue to put customer safety first, it’s certainly worth doing.”

The H.E.L.P. program costs the tollway — which receives no state or federal funds for maintenance and operations — about $2 million annually. Officials may award the contract as soon as next month.

Tollway officials are offering a three-year contract with three one-year renewal options for the naming rights, which includes advertising presence on the agency’s 13 H.E.L.P. vehicles that travel throughout the 286-mile system; corporate logo on H.E.L.P. employee uniforms; logo and message on 288 toll booth posters; logo and message in the tollway’s e-newsletter sent to 1.2 million subscribers; and sponsorship credit in program news releases and on the tollway’s Web site.

Officials said proposals will be evaluated based on the proposed fee, appropriateness or relevance of the sponsor’s business to that of the Tollway, as well as the candidate’s interest in and ability to fund roadway signage to support and promote the tollway’s H.E.L.P. Program. The Tollway may award the contract as soon as April 2011.

H.E.L.P. trucks are operated throughout the tollway system, Monday through Friday, from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. providing an array of services including changing flat tires, charging dead batteries, adding coolant and fuel and assisting with incidents.

“Last year, the tollway’s H.E.L.P. trucks patrolled more than one million miles and helped more than 31,000 customers,” said Lafleur.

Officials said toll and transportation agencies in New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania and Kansas are among those that have had success in securing sponsorships for similar motorist assistance programs.