South Shore outlines Northwest Indiana RDA request timeline

BY KEITH BENMAN, Times of Northwest Indiana
kbenman@nwitimes.com

The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority will not get a formal request for funding the South Shore Line commuter extension until at least 2009.

Gerald Hanas, South Shore general manager, told an RDA committee Thursday that several things have to fall in place first. A key factor will be passage of legislation in the Indiana General Assembly to fund $350 million of the extension's $1 billion price tag, Hanas said.

The RDA's strategic plan calls for the authority to put approximately $150 million into the extension.

RDA member Howard Cohen said the sooner the RDA sees a request for funding, the better.

"My thought is this will be complicated enough -- I want to get started on it early," Cohen told Hanas. "My advice is the sooner you put it on the table officially with us, the more time we will have to work through the issues."

The RDA has found itself at the center of the controversy over the extension. Critics have questioned its grant of $130,000 for a South Shore extension promotion campaign organized by the Northwest Indiana Forum, a private business group.

The legislation to provide sales tax money of approximately $350 million for the project was relegated to a summer study committee last month in the Indiana Senate. But boosters still hope the bill's content can be attached to another bill and passed before the session ends next week.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, the South Shore Line operator, will need a funding plan in place to get approval for federal funds for a preliminary engineering study, Hanas said. NICTD has to complete a feasibility study to apply for that funding.