Despite the passage of a bill approving the Illiana Expressway in the Indiana Senate on Thursday, the Indiana House could be the end of forward progress toward the approval of a new Northwest Indiana highway connecting I-65 with I-57 in Northeast Illinois.
State Representative Ed Soliday has sounded the warning that downstate Democrats have inserted legislative provisions designed to poison the Illiana Expressway legislation.
Writes the Post-Tribune’s Jon Seidel:
A public/private partnership to build the Illiana Expressway won overwhelming support Thursday in the state Senate, but that vote belied a storm of political gamesmanship in the House that brings serious doubt to its chances.
While the Senate’s Illiana bill was on cruise control, a House version authored by Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, and co-authored by Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, failed to even win a hearing in the transportation committee this month.
Meanwhile, Soliday said Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, quietly filed Illiana language into a vehicle bill that included several “poison pills” he said are sure to kill the project.
Later, Rep. Soliday said Rep. Terri Austin had “lied” about legislative items inserted into the House’ Illiana Expressway bill — items that include environmental impact studies and provisions for local government repayments.
Writes the Post-Tribune’s Teresa Auch Schultz:
An Anderson state representative said she just wants to make sure the state includes local governments in talks for the proposed Illiana Expressway, but state Rep. Ed Soliday says that’s not true.
“She lied, and she lied, and she lied, and she lied,” he said, referring to state Rep. Terri Austin.
The proposed roadway
Austin, D-Anderson, filed a bill that includes language that calls for an environmental study for the Illiana and memorandums of understanding with any governmental groups that the proposed highway touches.
