Some region farmers worried Illiana Expressway would eat up too much land

A route under study for the roadway cuts a swath from Interstate 57 in Illinois east into Indiana, dipping south toward Lowell before curving northward around Valparaiso and into LaPorte County, where it shoots straight north to end at Interstate 94 near Michigan City.

The route -- though not finalized -- doesn't push through the family farm founded by Goetz's great-great-grandfather in 1903, but it would be within sight of the eastern edge of the farm, too close for comfort, Goetz said.

"We'll see the traffic go by," he said. "Big roads like that tend to bring big industry," he adds. "Some of the best soil is right where they're putting this road.

"It's just a bad route," Goetz concludes.

The approximately 65-mile long Interstate-standard highway has been proposed as a southern alternate to Interstate 80/94 and U.S. 6 and U.S. 30 through Northwest Indiana.

Its backers say it will relieve congestion on the other highways and bring transportation sector jobs to the eastern portion of the route.

A measure allowing the state to build the Illiana Expressway and a second road, the Indiana Commerce Connector, is not likely to reach Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' desk before late April, assuming both the House and Senate agree to it, and it would still be years before it is built.

Retired farmer Ed Gutt wants to be proactive.

"I've been an advocate for Indiana to have some kind of farm preservation policy," said Gutt, who, like his father, farmed part-time and held a second job as well.

A former operating engineer, Gutt worked in construction, even helping build I-65.

"I can't really say I'm against progress," said Gutt, who has moved to Chesterton to live near a son and daughter-in-law.

"I know we are going to be having more people moving into the community," Gutt said.

"But the road, if it would go through as planned, would put a ring around the area all the way back up to Michigan City. It's just more suburbia coming and less farmland."

The loss of Indiana farmland brought together land planners from various agencies late last year to talk about preservation.

In 2002, the latest year for which information was available, Indiana reported just more than 15 million acres of farmland, down from 21.6 million in 1990.

From 1997 to 2002, the state lost about 90,000 acres per year of farmland, for a total of about 467,000 acres. Lake County lost 35 farms and nearly 26,000 acres of farmland in the same five-year period.

Goetz worries the loss of local tillable soil would cut into his family's hybrid seed corn business, Wyckoff Hybrids Inc.

"It might hit some of our customers who buy seed corn," Goetz said. "Any time you take land out of production, that means less acres that we can sell for seed."

Goetz holds out hope lawmakers will choose an alternate route, possibly one proposed last month by State. Sen. Vic Heinold, R-Kouts.

Heinold suggested the route be flattened out so that it touches Porter County's southernmost townships -- Boone and Pleasant -- and then grazes northwest Starke County before curving north to end east of LaPorte.

That route could spur economic development in Starke County, and lessen the impact on Porter County, Heinold said.

Matt Hayden, a second-generation farmer in southern Lake County, wonders whether his two young sons, ages 4 and 5, will be able to follow in the tradition.

"We're already fighting urbanization" in the Lowell area, Hayden said.

"If the road is built, there'll be a lot more people coming out and getting closer to the farm. The more people who come out, the less farmland.

"I've got two young boys who want to grow up in farming, but I don't see it happening 10 to 20 years from now."