Illiana Expressway supporters have a few short months to make their long-sought dream fly.
Prompted by Illinois officials, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels dusted off a plan to run an expressway from Interstate 57 in Illinois, east into Northwest Indiana.
The new road would aid the push in Illinois to build a new international airport in Peotone. The proposed airport is wedged between I-57 and Illinois 394, just west of the Indiana border.
Illinois supporters of the Illiana Expressway are careful to keep the two issues separate.
Meanwhile, Indiana is investing millions in improving Gary/Chicago International Airport to take a greater role in easing the air traffic in the Chicago area. The two sites are often pitted against one another in a race to be crowned Chicago's third regional airport.
"The demand for the road is there even without the airport. But does the Illiana help the airport? Sure it does," said Mike Claffey, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation of the proposed airport in Peotone.
The two ideas cannot be kept completely separated. The 1998 environmental impact study of a south suburban airport, produced by IDOT for the airport's master plan, shows a new Illiana stretching to Interstate 65 in Lake County as part of the Peotone transportation master plan.
The first leg, dubbed the East-West Airport Connector between I-57 and Illinois 394, is part of the footprint for land acquisition, which is already under way in Illinois, according to the maps and IDOT officials.
"We still need the road to help alleviate truck traffic," said Andy Fuller, district press secretary for U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill., whose Will County district covers both the road and the airport.
Weller held a district meeting in October on the Illiana, which included Indiana officials. The meeting came just before Daniels announced in December that Indiana had reached an agreement with Illinois to study the feasibility of the road. There has long been an interest in the Illiana, which would relieve traffic both on Interstate 94 in Indiana and Interstate 80 in Illinois, Fuller said.
Indiana officials said supporting Illiana does not mean the state is wavering in its support for the airport in Gary. The Regional Development Authority earmarked at least $20 million in state funds to develop the city's airport.
"Everyone has been committed to the Gary/Chicago Airport," said Gary Abell, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Transportation.
The two states have agreed to share the cost of a two-year study, estimated to cost $2 million to $4 million, with Indiana paying 75 percent of the cost, according to the two state transportation departments.
Even with the agreement, it is not a done deal. INDOT will not bid the contract, unless the Indiana General Assembly agrees to give the governor authority to build the Illiana as a private toll road.
"There is no point spending millions on a study for a road we cannot afford to build," Abell said.
A road bill passed the Indiana Senate, which is overwhelmingly in the hands of the GOP, the party of the governor. It faces a much tougher audience in the House, narrowly held by Democrats.
The House had been in GOP hands until the November election. Among the major campaign issues in November was Daniels' decision to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a private contactor for 75 years.
House leaders, including Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, have vowed to scrutinize any bill that grants the governor authority to privatize roads and other infrastructure. The bill would also allow a new private tollway ringing Indianapolis.
Before a bill passed the Senate, Austin, chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee, pledged to hold rare local hearings in the affected areas before putting the bill to a vote.
Illinois officials are not sold on the idea of a private toll road. No bill is pending in Illinois to grant authorization.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, has proposed selling the state lottery, but he has not taken a position on private tollways. He has pushed an extension of the suburban I-355 under the Illinois public tollway system. During the recent campaign, the Illinois governor opposed a Missouri plan to build a toll bridge over the Mississippi River.
There doesn't appear to be interest in a new public tollway in Indiana.
"We're not interested in issuing bonds and incurring more debt for the state," Abell said.
There has also been opposition to the eastern arch of the proposed Indiana route. The original Illiana plan stretched to I-65, but Daniels proposed looping the route though southern Porter County in a path that curves north in LaPorte County until it reaches I-94 near Michigan City.
In January, INDOT held informal hearings. Almost no one came to the session in Crown Point. Though not everyone was against the idea, hundreds attended meetings in Valparaiso and LaPorte, Abell said.
Last week, nearly 500 people attended a meeting at the Porter County Expo Center. County officials pledged to work with south county land owners who worry about the added congestion and pollution that may follow a new highway.
"A lot of people are upset about this," said Porter County Commissioner Robert Harper.
Supporters in Illinois, who believe the road would drive investment and rid small towns near the border of an increasing tide of tractor-trailer traffic, still believe this is their chance. Illinois wouldn't necessarily have to join Indiana in creating a private tollway, which is still a new idea in the United States, said Ed Paesel, executive director of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association.
"We've been looking at this for a long time. The congestion is so bad that most people welcome a new road," he said.