Schererville Historian Predicts Illiana Expressway Will Be Built

The Northwest Indiana Times ran a story detailing the history of the Borman Expressway yesterday that contained a prediction from a Shererville historian that the Illiana Expressway will eventually be built.

(Art) Schweitzer said the current controversy over the Illiana may slow up plans for the roadway, but won't halt its actual construction. That's because prominent developers and business people are backing the road.

"The road will roll through," Schweitzer said. "It's just a matter of time."

My prediction: The Illiana Expressway will be built as well, but it is unlikely that it will be approved if Indiana has a Republican governor and a Democrat-controlled legislature.

Ellsworth Watch reported recently that an operative with funding from the state and national Democratic Party organizations has been organizing people against the I-69 project, even though it has been popular with Evansville politicians for decades.

The economic development opportunities are too great to pass up and local Democrats have expressed support for the Illiana Expressway in the past. Plus, the estimates that highway construction provides high paying union jobs as well as creating thousands of new jobs -- one union local predicts 47,000 jobs are created for each $1 billion in highway funding -- is too much for any political leader to turn down.

It might just be a matter of the Democrats wanting to strip out the aspects of the transportation project they don't like and also denying a victory to the GOP.

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