Illinois Wants Illiana to Roll, by Keith Benman, NWI [Gary IN], March 20, 2007

Illinois Wants Illiana to Roll

By Keith Benman
NWI [Gary IN]
March 20, 2007

http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2007/03/20/news/top_news/docc509fc99fa07504d862572a400009a3b.txt

Monee — Illinois leaders are calling for a study of the Illiana Expressway to be completed as soon as possible and for an intense federal lobbying effort to have it declared a Corridor of the Future.

"Everywhere I go, this is the No. 1 issue," said Illinois Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete. "We need the Illiana. We need a way to get off the Borman (Expressway)."

Halvorson spoke Monday along with other Illinois and Indiana officials at a round-table discussion hosted by U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill., at the Monee Village Hall.

Crown Point Mayor Dan Klein talks Monday about the Illiana Expressway at a meeting hosted by U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill., as Kankakee County Board Chairman Karl Krause, left, and Illinois state Sen. Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, listen. The meeting, where Indiana and Illinois official met to discuss the proposed expressway, was held at Monee Village Hall.
Photo by JOHN J. WATKINS | THE TIMES

So far, Illinois has been spared the political firestorm surrounding the Illiana Expressway in Northwest Indiana. In part, that is because there is no privatization legislation such as Indiana Senate Bill 1. That bill would allow Gov. Mitch Daniels to find a private company to finance, build and operate the Illiana as a toll road.

"Let's not put the cart before the horse," Weller said after the meeting when asked about Daniels' plan.

Instead, Weller and other officials called for speedy completion of a bistate study to designate a route for the roadway, which then can be protected from development.

The expressway would run 63 miles from Interstate 94 in Indiana to Interstate 57 in Illinois.

Like Weller, Indiana officials are eager to get the bistate Illiana study under way, and joint planning is being done to make that happen, said Gary Abell, an Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman.

"We do not need the legislation (Senate Bill 1) to do the study," Abell said by phone Monday. "What we need the legislation for is to go forward if this is a viable project."

Under Daniels' plan, Senate Bill 1 would pave the way for a viability study by a private company, Abell said. The company might spend up to $15 million on such a study. The bill would give them assurance that the investment eventually might lead to new business.

The two states would remain in control of the environmental study, which would determine the roadway's route.

Senate Bill 1 was passed by the Indiana Senate in February. It's currently sitting in committee in the House.

Indiana officials at Monee Village Hall on Monday were eager to express their support for the Illiana Expressway.

"My town does support this," Cedar Lake Town Council President Robert Carnahan told the panel. "But legislators are being bombarded."

Carnahan said the 1,000 people who showed up at a recent meeting called by Illiana opponents had a big effect on state legislators.

Crown Point Mayor Dan Klein, who served on Monday's panel with Weller, said the roadway is essential for cutting Chicago commute times.

"The problem is the naysayers are coming out, but it's just a handful of people who feel that way," Klein said.

In Indiana, the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Council has made a call for an Illiana study and corridor protection legislation, NIRPC Executive Director John Swanson said.

Illinois already has "corridor protection" laws on the books allowing for protection of designated routes.

Illinois officials plan to enlist prominent employers such as Caterpillar Inc. and ExxonMobil Corp. in their lobbying effort in support of the Illiana, according to James Roolf, of the Will County Center for Economic Development.

Specifically, organizations are being asked to write letters in support of the bistate application for Corridors of the Future.

The Illiana already has been named one of 14 finalists for the U.S. Department of Transportation program. Five winners will be selected by this summer. Those projects will be eligible for special federal funding.

Applications are due May 25, so Illinois groups are looking to have all letters of support rounded up by April 6, according to Randall Blankenhorn, executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Agency.

"We really think this is the type of project the Department of Transportation is talking about when it talks about Corridors of the Future," Blankenhorn said. "This is really what it's all about."

Contact: kbenman@nwitimes.com or 219.933.3326