The region's lead transportation agency drove home the message Thursday that it has not endorsed Gov. Mitch Daniels plan to have the
Illiana Expressway built and run as a private toll road.
"NIRPC has not taken a position that the Illiana should be built, only that a study should be done and corridor protection put in place," said chairman Leigh Morris at the NIRPC executive committee meeting.
Robert Harper, an executive committee member and Porter County commissioner, wanted to make the message even more clear.
"I think you need to make it clear that NIRPC is not in favor of
Senate Bill 1, because Senate Bill 1 is not an authorization to study it -- it's a green light to build it," Harper said.
Senate Bill 1 was passed by the Indiana Senate in February. It gives the governor authority to enlist a private company to build and operate the Illiana as a toll road. No such bill has been introduced in the Indiana House. In December, Indiana and Illinois signed an agreement to jointly study the Illiana.
In January, NIRPC and the
Northwest Indiana Forum, a private industry group, both endorsed the state's drive to perform a feasibility study for the Illiana. But they stopped short of endorsing the governor's drive to build it as a private toll road.
Since then, the road has become a huge controversy in areas where a state-issued map shows it could run.
© Copyright 2024, nwitimes.com, Munster, IN