Illiana Expressway bill awaits governor's signature

INDIANAPOLIS -- The General Assembly's Illiana Expressway bill seems to be on the fast-track to becoming law.

However, even Gov. Mitch Daniels acknowledged Tuesday there's still no guarantee the long-sought highway will be built.

"It definitely opens the door to what could be the breakthrough we've always wanted," Daniels said.

The Indiana Senate voted 42-0 to concur with changes made to the Illiana bill in the House. Now it just needs the governor's signature to become law.

Written by Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, the original version authorizes a public/private partnership to build the highway, which could connect Interstate 65 in Indiana with either I-57 or I-55 in Illinois.

It isn't clear where the highway, likely to be a toll road, would be built. Studies have looked at areas in southern Lake County.

Daniels' likely approval of the Illiana bill allows his office to negotiate with investors, so far unnamed, interested in building the toll road with private dollars. Ten miles of the highway would be in Indiana. The rest would be in Illinois, where Gov. Pat Quinn is also supportive. Lawmakers there are working on their own Illiana bill.

Charbonneau told his Senate colleagues the Illiana is a $1 billion project, but one that he has said would be completed with private dollars from an investor.

The Senate needed to concur because House lawmakers added authorization for a public/private project to build bridges across the Ohio River into Kentucky. That added another $4 billion of construction to the bill, Charbonneau said.

"As it comes back to us from the House, it is a $5 billion job-creating project," Charbonneau said.

The Federal Highway Administration estimates every $100 million spent on construction projects creates 2,000 jobs, Charbonneau said.

"It is a jobs bill for Northwest Indiana," Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, said. "We've had a lot of support from the building trades."

Daniels told reporters Tuesday the Illiana bill is a "very progressive measure" that approaches public works projects in a way every state should.