U.S. transportation chief praises Illiana Expressway consensus

WILMINGTON, Ill. | U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood had warm words for the proposed Illiana Expressway on Tuesday while turning an apparent cold shoulder to the Peotone airport.

LaHood told an audience at a union training center he had heard plenty from south suburban mayors on projects on which there is a consensus, like the Illiana Expressway, but he had heard nothing on the proposed third airport for Chicago.

"I don't know in all of my discussions that I've had with members of the Illinois delegation what priority people are placing on that," LaHood said of the controversial airport project.

When Crete Mayor Michael Einhorn asked LaHood for his backing for building the Illiana Expressway, LaHood said the road can serve as an example of how the region can pull together to get projects done. LaHood said that was driven home earlier in the morning as he took a tour of the region with mayors.

"On the bus ride as we went though all the different communities, and I spoke with the different mayors ... the one common theme is everyone is pulling together. Everyone is working together. That's the only way you will be successful in achieving these transportation goals," LaHood said in response to Einhorn.

"That's the only way," he added. "Our state has been splintered too long."

The proposed Illiana Expressway would run from Interstate 65 in Indiana's Lake County to Illinois' Interstate 55 in Will County. Gov. Mitch Daniels already has signed a bill that would pave the way for building the Illiana as a public-private partnership. That means that in exchange for the right to collect tolls on the road, private investors would put money into its construction.

Legislation that would allow for the same type of arrangement on the Illinois side of the border is pending in the Illinois Legislature.

LaHood, a former Illinois congressman picked by President Barack Obama to head the U.S. Department of Transportation, spoke Tuesday before an appreciative audience of union members and local mayors at the training center for the Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 in Wilmington.

He was introduced by U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, D-Ill., who started her first term in the House just as LaHood was plucked to be transportation secretary. She left no doubt as to where the Illiana stands on her priority list.

"We know we have to do something about the Illiana Expressway, which everyone in this room says is the next No. 1 project for this state," Halvorson said in her opening remarks.

Halvorson said there is no connection between the Illiana Expressway project and the proposed Peotone airport.

"That's the only way we could get the Indiana people to be in support of it," Halvorson said of the Illiana Expressway.

The proposed airport at Peotone often is seen as a potential competitor for Gary/Chicago International Airport in Gary, which is in the midst of a $90 million expansion.

LaHood said the five-year transportation reauthorization bill now working its way through Congress will be critical to getting the Illiana Expressway built.

"We take our cues from the people in the state," LaHood said. "And if people in Illinois and Indiana consider this to be a priority, I'm sure they will make it a priority in the next authorization bill."

When asked specifically for his stance on the proposed Peotone airport, LaHood repeated he had heard nothing about the airport earlier that day on his tour with mayors.

Halvorson interrupted LaHood at that point to say the Federal Aviation Administration is still waiting for Illinois to come forward with a preferred plan for the airport. So far, it only has competing plans, one from Will County and one from U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., she said.

"The FAA is going do nothing with two plans," Halvorson said. "That is all the state has gotten to the FAA. The FAA says give me one plan. They haven't done that yet."