EDITORIAL: Issue is whether to study new road, not whether to build it

Times of Northwest Indiana

To build or not to build? That isn't the question.

The real question is whether to conduct a study to determine whether the Illiana Expressway should be built. The easy answer is yes -- do the study.

The U.S. Department of Transportation already considers the Illiana Expressway among the most enticing multistate congestion relief projects in the nation, putting it a short list for the "Corridors of the Future" program.

The Illiana Expressway has drawn opposition from some people in Northwest Indiana based on the map showing the study area, with a wide line displaying a possible route.

Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Karl Browning put that route in perspective at a joint meeting Thursday of The Times Editorial Advisory Boards representing the South Suburbs in Illinois, Lake County and Porter County.

"The width of that line, in scale, is equal to the size of a Magic Marker," Browning said.

It's too early to oppose the expressway based on the proposed route, because no one knows what that route might be.

"We do not know today what it's going to look like, where the ramps are or any of that," Browning said.

Which is why that study is needed.

"Our priority is a road that goes where you want it to go and a road that meets your vision for growth," Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman said at The Times forum.

If the region doesn't want the road, it won't be built, both Skillman and Browning said.

But now isn't the time for opposition. Now is the time to learn more about the proposal. Now is the time to agree to gather the facts.

The Indiana General Assembly needs to authorize the state to consider building the road as a public-private partnership -- a privately built and/or privately operated toll road -- so the real issues can be truly defined.

Without the study, there's no way to determine what the suggested route might be and where interchanges might be, not to mention whether the project is economically or environmentally feasible.

So approve Senate Bill 1 and let's see where it leads. The Borman Expressway is maxed out, with no room for additional lanes, and the southern part of the region is developing quickly enough to indicate the time to start planning any new expressway is now.

It would be foolish to put off this study based on fears rather than facts.

Urge your representatives in the House to approve SB 1 so the fact-finding can begin.