Plenty of fight left in Illiana fight

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BY KEITH BENMAN
kbenman@nwitimes.com
219.933.3326 | Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | (No comments posted.)

Leaders of Northwest Indiana business groups will travel to Indianapolis this week in hopes of keeping the Illiana Expressway rolling.

And groups opposed to the Illiana are now forming a coalition calling for more public transit and a "smart growth" study.

The efforts were announced three days after Gov. Mitch Daniels said his days of pushing for the Illiana and the Indiana Commerce Connector are over, but that he still backs an Illiana Expressway from the state border to Interstate-65.

Eighteen business groups ranging from the City of LaPorte to the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce signed on to the pro-Illiana lobbying effort this week, which will specifically target Northwest Indiana's delegation in the Indiana General Assembly.

"A project of this magnitude deserves its due diligence," said Vince Galbiati, president and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Forum. "Legislators hearing directly from the business community is essential."

The anti-Illiana coalition is composed of the Save the Dunes Council, Interfaith Federation, and the ad-hoc CAPIT (Citizens Against Privatized Illiana Toll Road).

"The Federation has always pursued a 'transit-first' position that INDOT should invest in public transit before highways," said Rev. Asher Harris, Interfaith Federation president.

The groups want a study focused on revitalizing Northwest Indiana, they said in a joint statement.

Northwest Indiana business groups will ask state legislators to support a study of the entire roadway as originally proposed by Daniels, said Jim Zaleski, a spokesman for the groups. That would be the entire 50-mile length from the Indiana border to Interstate 94 in LaPorte County.

"We are not letting this project go down," Zaleski said. "We no longer want to be the silent majority."

If the State of Indiana can cement its plans for a study, it will be a joint one undertaken with the State of Illinois. The two states signed an agreement to do that last year.

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