EDITORIAL: Put Illiana Expressway proposal on fast track

Times of Northwest Indiana

Key Northwest Indiana lawmakers are reluctant to grant Gov. Mitch Daniels the authority to put the Illiana Expressway on the fast track.

This is a case where real leadership is needed. Daniels has shown it on this issue. Now it's time for the legislators to step up to the plate.

Before Daniels got involved, the best that could be hoped for was an expressway that would connect I-355 to I-65 as a way to siphon truck traffic off the congested Borman Expressway.

Daniels is asking the legislators and others in the region to see the big picture. Think big, he says, and big things will happen.

That's good advice.

He is urging the General Assembly to allow the Indiana Department of Transportation to plan and build the Illiana Expressway not just to I-65 but all the way to I-94 near Michigan City. Thus the region would have an outer ring expressway.

And to do that, he proposes a public-private partnership, with a private firm building and operating the expressway as a toll road and the state keeping control and ownership of it.

Daniels has a good plan to get the job done without tax dollars involved. Legislators need to think long-term about the growing areas in both suburban Chicago, southern Lake and Porter counties and western LaPorte County.

Without that private financing, the road would not be built as proposed. Let's not end up with more routes like Cline and Kennedy avenues, which drop drivers at a T intersection with no way to build an extension.

Consider, too, the great opportunities the Illiana Expressway offers for Borman congestion relief and for economic growth, including an intermodal facility near LaPorte.

Public comment at the first three public hearings on the road last weekend was mostly negative. This is to be expected, as it was mostly farmers who oppose giving up their land. It's the "not in my back yard" syndrome, even though the actual route hasn't been chosen yet.

Few of those who favor the expressway showed up at the hearings. That is sad.

The region has been presented with a tremendous opportunity. How the legislators act on it will be a test of their leadership.

Strong political will is needed to do the right thing by fast-tracking this proposal. Build it quickly so the benefits it will bring can come sooner.