INDIANAPOLIS | Gov. Mitch Daniels softened expectations for the
Illiana Expressway on Thursday, acknowledging that legislative support looks scarce for both of his proposed tollways.
The comments came just hours ahead of the first in a series of public hearings on his downstate
Indiana Commerce Connector and amid growing support for slowing down the Illiana approval process.
"Maybe these ideas will have to await," Daniels said. "I think these ideas are really important to look at, but if the folks from those two areas are not ready to move forward, or want to slow down in some way, let's talk about it."
Most Northwest Indiana legislators appear ready to hit the brakes on
Senate Bill 1, which would allow the governor to recruit private firms to build the Illiana as a tollway linking Interstate 94 with Interstate 57 in Illinois.
The measure cleared the Senate last month, but several region lawmakers, including some who previously voted for SB 1, now say they would endorse only a planning study -- not legislative permission to build the highway.
"I think it would require more study before we could get the hysteria down," said Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary.
Brown was one of several lawmakers who attended a
Citizens Against the Privatized Illiana Tollroad weekend forum that drew a crowd of 1,000 to the Porter County Expo Center.
"That meeting Saturday was really an eye-opener," Brown said. "It was a large turnout, and I think, almost to a person, they were there to oppose it."
The best course of action, many region lawmakers suggest, would be to scrap Senate Bill 1, and instead appropriate a few million dollars for a mutliyear study. That would allow the
Indiana Department of Transportation to determine potential environmental and economic impacts of the proposed road and set a more precise route.
Even House Speaker Pat Bauer, a recalcitrant privatization opponent, says he could support that course of action.
"I'm not opposed to a study," said Bauer, a South Bend Democrat. "But if we did that, I'd do it under the context of the Legislative Council."
That scenario would keep lawmakers involved in the process, Bauer said. And Daniels or a future governor would have to go back to the Legislature for permission to build the road using private money.
"We can't give the governor total control (now)," said Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond. "With
Major Moves (last year's private lease of the
Indiana Toll Road) it was my way or the highway. We can't let that happen."
Lawson and other lawmakers, including Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, and Sens. Vic Heinold, R-Kouts; Earline Rogers, D-Gary; and Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, have said a study is the appropriate course of action.