By VICKI URBANIK

Ind. Gov. Mitch Daniels on Tuesday announced plans for a second privately managed toll road in Northwest Indiana, by forging forward with a study for the Illiana Expressway crossing through rural Porter County.

The 63-mile expressway would, at least in Indiana, be built by a private investors, who then manage and maintain the new toll road and keep the tolls. The road itself would remain state-owned.

The expressway, which has been on the drawing board for decades, would connect I-57 in Illinois to I-94 in Indiana. The highway would be interstate-quality, along the lines of the Indiana Toll Road and I-94, said Gary Abell, spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Transportation.

The goal of the Illiana Expressway is to cut traffic congestion on I-94, but depending on the number and location of interchanges, it would also likely spur new businesses, industries and subdivisions through a large swath of what is now a heavily rural and residential area of Porter County.

“The Illiana Expressway would stimulate jobs all along its route, and help both the economy and quality of life throughout Chicagoland by alleviating congestion. The possibilities for intermodal distribution alone are enormous,” Daniels said in his announcement.

An intermodal facility is a large-scale center, usually of 2,000 or so acres, where cargo is transferred from one mode of transportation to another, such as from rail to truck. A handout released at a recent meeting of the Porter County Economic Development Alliance suggests three intermodal sites in LaPorte County at Union Mills, Kingsbury and at State Road 2.

Abell said the exact locations of any new intermodal facilities has not yet been decided, nor has the locations and number of interchanges. He said it is likely that the interchanges would be built at the major crossings, though it’s too early to say if Ind. 49 would get an interchange.

A map showing the study area for where the new expressway could be located was released by the state Tuesday. The exact route could end up somewhere outside of that study area, Abell said, since a variety of factors will affect where, exactly, the new expressway would be located.

The largest single factor in the final route will likely be environmental factors, Abell said. Other factors, he said, will include the number of willing sellers along the route -- though Indiana will have the right to condemn land for the new expressway --- the number of homes, and how best the road will benefit the communities affected by attracting new businesses.

Indiana’s major interest in the project is to improve the movement of freight, Abell said. When asked why the Indiana Toll Road cannot help relieve that congestion, Abell said that similar to I-94, the Toll Road is just about built out with the available land. There is a plan to widen the Toll Road in Lake County, which will help relieve some congestion, but there is still a bottleneck in Illinois, he said.

He added that much of the distribution networks are in the greater Chicagoland area that would be best served by the outer loop envisioned by the Illiana Expressway.

The prospect of an interstate-quality expressway is already drawing mixed reactions.

A handout, written by LaPorte Mayor Leigh Morris, that was distributed at the Dec. 2 PCEDA meeting cited the possibilities that a new expressway would have on economic development and relief of traffic congestion on the Borman. Morris called for the expressway to cross southern Porter and extend into his county -- which is pretty much the route announced on Tuesday -- and for the state lawmakers to enact corridor protection legislation.

“I can think of no other single endeavor that has greater potential for enhancing the economy and quality of life for all of Northwest Indiana than the development of the Illiana Expressway,” Morris wrote.

Meanwhile, Porter County Commissioner President Robert Harper said the expressway would destroy the rural quality of south Porter County. Once the expressway is built, he said, there would be a huge push for massive development of subdivisions.

“People move to Porter County for low crime, low taxes,” he said, adding that most people in the two townships affected own acreage, horses, farm or otherwise enjoy a rural lifestyle.

“The people that I talked to sort of want to be left alone in south Porter County,” he said. “I think we should consider their wishes.”

But Harper also said he does not believe the commissioners have any authority to stop the expressway. Harper, for one, was not even informed by the state about the proposed route.

Even though the new expressway could dramatically change the county’s planning efforts in the unincorporated areas, Harper said he doesn’t think the proposal should stop the plan commission’s ongoing work at rewriting the county’s zoning ordinances. He said he believes it would take years for the new expressway to materialize. “I think this is just a dream right now,” he said.

In his announcement, Daniels said the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Illinois Department of Transportation have signed an agreement to study potential locations for the expressway. Once the two states select an engineering firm for the project, the engineers will conduct an environmental impact anaylsis and identify a final highway alignment. Abel said the engineering firm will likely be retained sometime in the first quarter of 2007.

That bi-state study is expected to cost between $5 million and $10 million and will take up to three years to complete. The two states will share the costs of the study.

Abell said there will be plenty of opportunity for public comment.

“This would be like any road project. There will be a series of public meetings,” he said.

The first public input session will likely be in the early part of the summer, Abell said. He said there will be various alternatives presented, with pros and cons for each.

He said the state will want to hear from mayors, the commissioners and others to hear their views on how the expressway will provide the most in economic development to their communities.

“We’ll want to hear from the public,” he said.

The Indiana Legislature will need to give its approval to the public-private partnership in which a private interest would build the highway and keep the tolls. That legislative approval could be sought as early as this upcoming session, Abell said.

According to a press release issued by the governor’s office, the current expansion of I-94 ( Borman Expressway) is the last because there is no additional land available. This expansion is expected to handle traffic growth for about 15 years.

The press release also states that the number of trucks that use the Borman is expected to increase by 50 percent in the next 20 years. Currently, there are 28,000 trucks per day. Further, 300,000 vehicles travel between Indiana and Chicago each day on the Borman, U.S. 6, U.S. 30, the Indiana Toll Road and local streets.

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission estimates that the Illiana Expressway would reduce truck traffic on U.S. 30 by 59 percent and on the Borman, by 22 percent, the press release added.

A map of the proposed study area may be found at this link: http://www.in.gov/gov/pdfs/Illiana_Expressway_Study_Area_Map.pdf

Posted 12/13/2006