Illiana tollway gets green light; planning panel passes 3 resolutions backing project

PORTAGE — The Illiana Expressway zoomed into the fast lane Thursday, with support coming at about a 3-1 margin from the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

The commission approved three separate resolutions, all backing Illiana.

The first vote didn’t come without debate.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., who opposes the $1.3 billion tollway to be built in southern Lake County, tried to delay the vote unsuccessfully.

Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, who had the biggest clout in the population-weighted voting, offered support for Illiana as long as jobs and accessible transportation are available for workers in the northern part of Lake County.

“We have been harmed by our inability and outright refusal to view our fate collectively,” she said in prepared remarks supporting the highway.

The commission agreed to include Illiana in NIRPC’s 2040 Comprehensive Regional Plan and finally on a resolution including the highway in NIRPC’s Transportation Improvement Program.

The favorable votes buoyed the hopes of dozens of construction workers in the audience who sported “Built Illiana” stickers.

“It will mean long- and short-term work,” said Acy Wartsbaugh, of Griffith, a member of Local 150 of the Operating Engineers. “You build a road, you have to keep it up.”

Illiana will mean the end of a lifestyle for Nell and Ken Fabish. Their 20-acre home in the 16500 block of Morse Street in Cedar Creek Township is in its path.

“Residents are now going to be displaced. They can’t make us whole emotionally. I don’t want to see it done by a formula by INDOT,” said Nell Fabish.

Federal approval, however, is still needed for the Illiana tollway to get built.

James A. Earl, Indiana Department of Transportation project manager, said Illinois and Indiana will each hold a public hearing in mid-January to allow comments on the environmental impact of the project.

No date or place has been set for those hearings, he said.

Those findings will be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for approval, which could come as early as March, according to INDOT spokesman Jim Pinkerton.

Earl said Indiana will spend $80 million to $110 million for preliminary engineering environmental studies and studies involving two rail lines.

The 47-mile tollway would connect I-55 in Illinois with I-65 in Indiana. In Indiana, the Illiana expressway will have exits at I-65, Ind. 55 and U.S. 41.

Once federal approval is secured, a private highway developer will be named.

Construction is expected to begin in 2015, with completion in 2018, Pinkerton said.

McDermott had said earlier this week he weighed the pros and cons at length and believes Illiana does not conform to NIRPC’s 2040 plan that focuses on revitalization of Lake County’s urban core. He also said Illiana would contribute to urban sprawl in the south of Lake County and disinvestment in his own city.

State transportation officials in Illinois and Indiana have said the tollway would be built through a public-private partnership, with Illinois’ share about $950 million.

Illiana has the support of Indiana’s Republican governor and Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn, a Democrat. Transportation departments from both states have been drawing up route scenarios and holding public meetings on Illiana for the past few years.

Only about 10 miles of Illiana would be in Indiana, at least for now. Officials say the highway will ease truck congestion along busy Interstate 80/94, routing trucks south from an intermodal hub near Wilmington, Ill.