EDITORIAL: Keep Illiana Expressway study alive

Times of Northwest Indiana

It is disappointing that Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has been such a visionary leader for the state, caved in to "not in my back yard" pressure on two major road projects.

The Indiana Commerce Connector would serve as an outer beltway around Indianapolis. It would be a boon to the collar counties around the capitol city.

And the Illiana Expressway, serving as an outer beltway around the Chicago region, would similarly be a boon to the outer counties.

Any people who believe Northwest Indiana -- including Porter and LaPorte County -- are not a part of the Chicago region are sadly mistaken. Our economies are closely interconnected.

Daniels' vision for the region included building a road originally recommended by urban planner Daniel Burnham a century ago -- the outer beltway around the Chicago region.

The Illiana Expressway -- stretching to I-94 near Michigan City as Daniels originally proposed -- would siphon truck traffic off the crowded Borman Expressway. It would add opportunities for intermodal facilities near LaPorte and, because of the traffic relief on the Borman, in northern Lake County.

But Daniels yielded to pressure from the NIMBY crowd Saturday and said he wouldn't actively lobby for the Indiana Commerce Connector and for the portion of the Illiana Expressway between I-65 and I-94 -- two of the biggest items on his legislative agenda for the year.

Could it be because Daniels is up for re-election next year and believes he needs the votes more than the state needs the economic development?

The original Illiana proposal called for linking I-65 to I-57. Daniels still supports that plan, and so should everyone else.

It wouldn't provide the full benefit to the region the full length of Daniels' original proposal offered, but it's better than nothing.

That was a logical first step for the construction anyway.

The Democrats in the legislature, in turn, should stop playing politics with the Illiana, rewrite Senate Bill 1 and move funding for an Illiana study forward.

The state needs to build the link to I-65 now and take a look at the eastward link to I-94 sometime in the future.