PORTAGE | Research into the beleaguered, decades-old proposal for an Illiana Expressway is shifting gears.

The company researching the possible cross-region highway connecting Interstate 57 in Illinois and Interstate 65 in Indiana on Friday updated the Northwest Indiana Forum Managing Board on its progress.

Cambridge Systematics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based company, is in the first of six phases of studying the feasibility of the east-west corridor, said Andy Dietrick, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Transportation.

Fierce opposition from some residents scuttled legislative plans last year for the highway that would connect Will County in Illinois with Lake County in Indiana.

Legislators later agreed to study building a stretch that would not run through Porter or LaPorte counties and would not be built with the help of private financing.

Cambridge's study area runs from a quarter mile west of U.S. 45 in Illinois to the line separating Lake and Porter counties in Indiana. It covers a quarter mile north of U.S. 30, to its most southern point along the Kankakee River in Indiana.

The company is analyzing within that study area three possible routes, likely northern, central and southern options, Dietrick said. Exact locations for those possibilities have not been determined.

Cambridge, which is expected to submit a first draft of its results to INDOT by Jan. 1, is studying traffic patterns, lane configurations, impacts on the environment and possible tolls. It also is looking at anticipated traffic levels through 2035.

Earlier reports suggested a financial analysis of the expressway was expected in January. But Dietrick said Friday that INDOT does not plan to disclose any cost estimates until the study's expected completion in July 2009.

Dietrick said he has heard of no meeting scheduled this summer of a legislative committee studying the expressway, but INDOT would be ready to update the committee if desired.

Local state representatives could not be reached for comment Friday.

Meanwhile, the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission has said it will set up a task force to study the impact the proposed road would have on communities and existing roads and transportation.

NIRPC is scheduled to conduct a Future of Northwest Indiana Summit in December to learn what region residents want when it comes to economic development, transportation, land use and the environment.