Illinois drivers furious with long wait lines for vehicle emissions test

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Whether you were holding up traffic in Lincoln park or being corralled into a parking lot in the suburbs, it was an infuriating day for drivers.

Emissions tests are causing obnoxious wait times at locations throughout the area, and some of the wait times were up to four hours.

Tuesday was a traffic nightmare in Bedford Park. There were so many cars that cops were needed to control the mess. There were lines that would put Disneyworld to shame, snaking for miles, all for a vehicle emissions testing station.

FOX 32: What do you think of the process here?

"Ha! It sucks!” one woman said.

That’s one of the few responses we could repeat.

"It's terrible. Very terrible,” a man said.

"This is ridiculous. I've been out here for four and a half hours,” another woman added.

The last day of the month is always busy at vehicle emissions, but this year is far worse than usual and has been for the past couple weeks.

"It's been a three hour wait and there's not even a place to go to the bathroom for me or my granddaughter. It's ridiculous,” a man said.

So after sitting in a brutal line for well over an hour, the drivers finally get to the vehicle emissions testing station, only to be met with another brutal surprise.

They’re corralled into a holding lot next to the station, given a pink ticket and told to wait at least another hour before they can get tested.

"It's ridiculous. I'm not sure what's going on exactly,” a woman said.

What happened is last year the state ran out of money to mail these emissions reminder cards due to the budget impasse. The company that runs the emissions stations recently paid out of its own pocket to start sending them again, which now has people scrambling.

"We do understand the frustration and we appreciate everyone's patience in dealing with the extended lines that motorists are experiencing. We do hope to see these lines will start to trickle off as the first of the month rolls around tomorrow,” said Kim Biggs of the Illinois EPA.

"Illinois has gotta do something about this. Too many tax dollars being paid for this nonsense,” a woman said.

But we did find one understanding driver.

“You know if you're gonna wait until the last day, you're gonna have to wait,” he said. "I'm accepting the blame."