EDITORIAL: Building bridges in the region

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels enjoyed an exciting boys basketball game Tuesday night at Valparaiso High School, but don't kid yourself. That's not the primary reason he came to Northwest Indiana.

Daniels, who built a reputation in his first term as a transportation problem-solver, visited the region to look at the condemned Cline Avenue Expressway bridge and to promise a solution to this transportation crisis as well.

The replacement -- not necessarily similar to what stands there today -- will be built as "speedily as we can," Daniels said. In fact, the state is starting meetings here beginning next week to determine the best way to route the 30,000 vehicles, including heavy trucks, that have been diverted daily onto local roads since the bridge was closed Nov. 13 because of structural weakness.

The 25-year-old bridge, it is now apparent, no longer is capable of supporting the weight it was designed for and must be razed.

The Indiana Department of Transportation is conducting a 60-day comment period on what should be done to solve this transportation crisis in Northwest Indiana.

"I don't think we know the answer because no one knows what that something is or ought to be," Daniels said Tuesday in the shadow of the bridge.

But his appearance in the region to address this issue has not gone unnoticed.

Whiting Mayor Joe Stahura was happy to hear of the governor's visit this week. "That means it's on his mind, and that's a good thing," Stahura said.

Even more than that, Daniels is committed to expediting this project. The bridge was scheduled to be replaced in 2012, but it hopefully will not have to wait that long because of the $3.8 billion Major Moves money generated by the lease of the Indiana Toll Road.

"Indiana, unlike any other state I know, is completely funded from a transportation standpoint thanks to the Toll Road transaction," the governor said. "We have a fully funded 10-year plan, though we may have to move money around within that plan."

Daniels expects the $90 million set aside in that plan for the bridge replacement will be enough for whatever solution emerges. Let's hope so.

The governor's leadership on this issue -- as evidenced by his visit this week, the meetings beginning next week and his commitment to expediting a solution -- merits the region's appreciation.

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