Think TSA Lines Are Long? Try Getting Your Emissions Test In Illinois
(CBS) -- Frustrated drivers are finding extraordinarily long lines at emissions testing sites across the state.
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports on why motorists are waiting so long.
If you are lucky, it will take you 23 minutes to have your car tested at Naperville's Emission Testing Center.
Then the wait climbs to 39, 40 and then 51 minutes, with cars lined up a quarter mile down the road at the end of the afternoon.
"I tried to go by here the other day, and it was worse," says Naperville's Steve Price.
A CBS 2 viewer sent video of his wait earlier in the day. It sent some drivers to the brink.
A spokesperson for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency says facilities are fully staffed and testing 12,000 cars a day. She says the EPA is again sending testing notices after a four-month hold. Kozlov reports the state's long budget impasse is partly to blame.
The Illinois Secretary of State's Office just informed drivers they have until June 1 to get testing done, creating a scramble.
"Think of the gas wasted by these enormous lines. Think of the enormous financial waste. People have to take time off from work to put up with this silliness," motorist David Nordien said.
Some drivers were cut off at 6 p.m. and would have to come back.