The Indiana Senate deserves credit for passing legislation aimed at facilitating construction of the Illiana Expressway. State Rep. Terri Austin, on the other hand, needs some special attention.

Senate Bill 382, approved by a 48-0 vote Thursday night, authorizes a public-private partnership to build a toll road extending between Interstate 55 in Joliet and I-65 in Lake County. It is a reasonable approach to getting this long-overdue expressway project under way.

Among the selling points for the Illiana Expressway are that it will ease congestion on the Borman Expressway and shave travel time for traffic circling around Chicago. That, along with the estimated $600 million to $1 billion cost of building the road, make the public-private partnership, and operation as a toll road, such a good idea.

"The bill would allow the state to move forward with credibility when talking to potential investors," said state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso.

The Senate wisely sees this logic.

But Austin, who chairs the House Roads & Transportation Committee, seems bent on being a roadblock to construction.

Austin, D-Anderson, proposed a change in House Bill 1369 that would require any government entity touching the Illiana Expressway, at least the Indiana portion of it, to sign a memorandum of understanding on the construction. All it would take is one community to torpedo this important project.

Austin's amendments are counterproductive. They could spell the death of the Illiana Expressway -- and the jobs that would be created by constructing it.

This is a moment when the project should get the green light in Indianapolis.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and his state are ready to ink a partnership for the public-private project that will greatly ease traffic congestion on the Borman.

"We're at a moment in time where we have the stars aligning," Charbonneau said. "We have interest in the state of Illinois, with the governor and the Legislature, interest in Indiana, with the Indiana Department of Transportation interested in moving forward with this very significant project."

Significant is the right word. Construction on the Borman began in 1949 -- more than 60 years ago. In all that time, traffic has grown exponentially. Yet no new expressway has been built to deal with all that extra traffic.

With all the development happening in the area through which the Illiana Expressway must pass, the time to build it is now.

Northwest Indiana’s delegation in the House – led by Chet Dobis – should hammer Austin and other members of the House Transportation Committee to give approval to the Senate version. This is not the time for playing partisan games.

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