Scrap Plans For Illiana Expressway East Of I-65?

The Times of Northwest Indiana's Mike Clark says its time to scrap plans to build the Illiana Expressway Toll Road east of I-65 since that's where all of the opposition lives while supporters live west of Interstate 65.

Build it as first conceived, from I-57 to I-65.

It is becoming clearer by the day that the towns along the original route, including Beecher in Illinois and Cedar Lake and Crown Point in Indiana, are bullish on the project and the economic development it would spur.

And the Illiana seems finally to be a priority in at least one state capital, with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels lending his support to the long-in-the-planning road.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has a few other things on his plate right now, including multiple scandals in his administration. But in Springfield and Washington, momentum is building for the Illiana as well among legislators in both parties.

With the window of opportunity being propped open, it's time for Daniels to admit that his late revise to the Illiana route -- extending it from I-65 to I-94 in LaPorte County -- has no future.

Just as the push for the Illiana in Illinois' Will County and Indiana's Lake County gains traction, the idea of expanding the road east through Porter County seems more and more a nonstarter.

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