EDITORIAL: Pick up speed on Illiana Expressway

Now that the preferred route for the Illiana Expressway has been chosen, it's vital that the process go forward with speed and due deliberation.

At this point, the preferred route — running from Interstate 65 west to I-55 in Illinois, between Cedar Lake and Lowell, and between Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie and Wilmington — has been chosen.

The route chosen will affect the buildings of 67 individual property owners, but that number would be higher if the route were placed farther to the north. It is the price of delay on this project that was first proposed more than a century ago by architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham.

This route also is well suited for connections with intermodal facilities designed to shift freight between rail and truck.

The route has the lowest potential toll revenue, but with the lowest potential cost it also has a high financial viability, according to the Illinois Corridor Planning Group.

Now it's time for another round of public hearings for additional input and review. Then it's time to get down to the nuts and bolts of making sure this single route will work — and then build it.

There is much to be done.

Interchange locations must be identified, local officials must be involved, an environmental impact study must be conducted, and design work must be done.

Because neither Indiana nor Illinois can afford to build the new road, a public-private partnership is needed for this new addition to the interstate highway system. That company must be selected as well.

Construction could begin as early as 2015.

We urge the public to attend one of the local hearings — Crown Point or Matteson — to voice support or concerns or both.

As you prepare for one or both of those meetings, remember the value of this project in siphoning traffic off U.S. 30, especially, and the Borman Expressway, thus making those routes safer as well as less congested.

It has been decades since the last expressway was built in Northwest Indiana. It's time for this new one — before development makes it even more costly and it affects even more people.