Illiana Expressway project promises 14,000 jobs, but at what price?
So what is the Illiana Expressway and why should we care? Gov. Pat Quinn and his Indiana counterpart Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a deal Wednesday to build the 56-mile highway collaboratively.
The expressway will connect I-55 south of Joliet to I-57 and from there to I-65 in northwest Indiana.
The most direct impact for suburban drivers could be to shift some of the traffic from Indiana's I-80/94, a truck-magnet, onto the new expressway.
The project announcement comes with very limited details but promises of 14,000 jobs - interesting timing in an election year.
What's missing is the cost, the exact location of the road, how it will be paid for and when it will be built.
The Illiana Expressway is one of those megaprojects like extending Route 53 north into Lake County and building the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and western bypass that's been on the shelf for a while.
IDOT Bureau Chief for Programming Peter Harmet said there's no definite price tag for the project, but noted that costs for building highways range from $36 million to $60 million a mile.
But while pressure is mounting for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to adopt the Elgin-O'Hare or the Route 53 expansion, the state is leaning toward a private developer to make the Iliana happen.
Quinn recently signed legislation enabling the Illinois Department of Transportation enter into a public-private partnership with one or several contractors to build the Illiana.
"This opens up a whole new source of revenue," Harmet said.
Getting the project moving should please many in Will County, which has been lobbying for the highway to benefit its businesses and industries.
"I think there's a lot of political traction behind this," said transportation professor Joseph Schwieterman of DePaul University.
Flotsam and jetsambull; Timing is everything. Traveling to a Metra meeting (oh irony) Friday morning the BNSF line was standing-room-only as Blackhawks fans bound for a 10:30 a.m. rally and parade rubbed elbows with people in business suits. My Downers Grove contingent got seats, but by Hinsdale the train had to leave passengers behind. Heading home, if I'd got to the 12:30 train by noon instead of 12:10 p.m., I think I might have got on. Metra Acting Executive Bill Tupper said the agency had planned for crowds to start dispersing around 1 p.m. but happy fans already were showing up at Union Station around noon - only to have their Stanley Cup glow extinguished by belated announcements the train was full.bull; Expect changes to the car rental lots at O'Hare in the future. Chicago City Council last week approved enacting an $8 per day fee for cars that will go toward building a new consolidated rental agency facility and parking deck to be located in remote parking Lot F.Incomingbull; Bike to Work Week starts Monday and the Active Transportation Alliance will give out free coffee at Metra stations to mark the occasion. Get your morning java: Monday at Naperville's downtown and Route 59 stations; Tuesday at the Wheaton and Glen Ellyn stations; Wednesday at the Bartlett and Lisle stations, Thursday at the Arlington Heights, Villa Park and Lombard stations. For more info about events, check out activetrans.org.bull; Brace yourself for new work zone configurations along I-355 at the I-88 interchange as the Illinois tollway begins to repair four ramp bridges connecting the two expressways.