INDIANAPOLIS | State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, won support Thursday for a plan to study an Illiana Expressway that won't run through Porter or LaPorte counties or be built with the help of private financing.
The proposal, contained in an amendment the House adopted by a voice vote, still would allow the state to study building the road as a tollway, but only from Interstate 65 in Lake County to Interstate 57 in Illinois. Supporters say the move would put some concrete answers behind a debate now fueled by emotion.
"We need the facts," Soliday said. "Let's get the facts, and let's stop shouting at one another."
The Illiana has been a dream of urban planners for decades. But loud opponents in southern Porter County saw it as a nightmare that would end their bucolic lifestyle.
Gov. Mitch Daniels has since dropped his push to build the road east of I-65. And Soliday stressed that the route wouldn't touch Porter County under his study terms, nor would the state receive the power to recruit private firms to build and operate the road.
The amendment, attached to Senate Bill 105, would give the Indiana Department of Transportation two years to evaluate the need for an Illiana.
The study would touch on several issues: land acquisition requirements, construction and maintenance costs, how many cars would use the road, potential toll revenues, economic impacts on surrounding communities, and potential congestion relief on other roads.
"There are a lot of unknowns," state Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, said in support of the study. "It's a sensitive issue."
Soliday's plan would appoint a committee of eight legislators -- four from Lake County -- to evaluate the state's Illiana study. The amendment doesn't allocate study dollars, instead instructing INDOT to find up to $2 million within the general budget.
State Rep. Bob Kuzman, D-Crown Point, called the plan a solid start, but said it might need to be tweaked to ensure Illinois' involvement in the study.
On the Web
Read the Illiana study proposal at http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2007&session=1&request=getBill&docno=105
