BY PATRICK GUINANE, Times of Northwest Indiana
pguinane@nwitimes.com

INDIANAPOLIS | Gov. Mitch Daniels says a closed-door meeting Thursday with Northwest Indiana legislators left him encouraged about the prospects of building a privately financed Illiana Expressway.

A conversation Daniels had with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last month added to the encouragement, Daniels said Friday.

"It was mainly give and take," Daniels said of his meeting with Indiana legislators. "We talked about the fact that no one has a fixed route in mind, that the road might run only to (Interstate) 65. But we thought it'd be very exciting, particularly for distribution and intermodal facilities in LaPorte County and elsewhere, if it did continue on."

Daniels is working to build support for highway, which he said came up in a conversation he had last month with Blagojevich.

"I think they (Illinois officials) definitely are eager to move forward on this," Daniels said.

Illinois transportation officials haven't publicly weighed in on Daniels' plan to build the road as a tollway. Indiana lawmakers also will take some convincing, but one local legislator said he was encouraged by Thursday's sit down with the Republican governor.

"It went really well," said state Rep. Bob Kuzman, D-Crown Point. "He's open to suggestions. I am not yet sold on making it a toll road. But I think the important thing that is going to happen, unlike what happened with Major Moves, is we're going to have some good public hearings."

The hearings, beginning today in Crown Point, LaPorte and Valparaiso, will be a crucial step in the process.

Some public opposition was voiced this week for Daniels' new plan to build an Indiana Commerce Connector tollway outside of Indianapolis, but the Illiana Expressway concept has been discussed for several decades.

"I've made close to 60 visits now (as governor) to Lake County alone and more to Northwest Indiana. And I bet that idea was raised with me on two-thirds of those visits," Daniels said. "There's a lot of interest in it, if we can get it right. Public input is critical, of course."

The road would connect Interstate 57 in Illinois with I-65 and then, as proposed, would run northward outside Valparaiso and up to Michigan City. Lowell officials have complained about the road, and top Porter County Democrats argue it would besiege their communities with unwanted suburban sprawl.

State Sen. Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake, is cosponsoring legislation that would allow the state to recruit private bidders for the Illiana Expressway and the Indianapolis tollway. The bill is set to get its first legislative hearing Tuesday.