The transportation policy committee of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission voted 18-8 with one abstention Tuesday to add the proposed $1.3 billion, 47-mile toll road to its master plan.
The 12-mile Indiana portion of the 47-mile highway, which would link northern Indiana with Chicago's south suburbs, has an estimated $300 million cost.
Companies that build private toll roads are pressing states, including Indiana, to assume more financial risk of traffic not meeting expectations, a change that benefits the operators while threatening to increase taxpayer costs.
The proposal, which would allow counties to impose taxes on corporations and residents to pay for expanded transit, will be fleshed out before the 2014 legislative session, then introduced as a bill.
The bypass will allow drivers to avoid 15 traffic signals on the highway's current route through the city.
The opening of the new 13-mile stretch around Kokomo's east side will be a key step in the state's project to upgrade the most-congested sections of U.S. 31 between Indianapolis and South Bend.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence have pushed hard for the 47-mile link, promising it would help speed goods by truck, reduce congestion and create thousands of jobs.
The fate of a proposed $1.3 billion expressway being pushed by the governors of Illinois and Indiana could be determined Thursday.
The head of northeastern Illinois’ planning agency called Wednesday for an end to Gov. Pat Quinn’s push for the Illiana Expressway, saying the proposed $1.3 billion tollway south of Chicago into Indiana is “a highway in nowhere land.”
New lanes, flyover expected to ease congestion at interstates 65 and 465.
The almost-completed $383 million State Road 25 Hoosier Heartland Highway Corridor project is expected to create economic development opportunities from West Lafayette to Fort Wayne.
Officials in southern Indiana’s Monroe County are proposing tough rules for any truck stops that might be built with the opening of the Interstate 69 extension.
Indiana’s transportation and warehousing industry employs more people now than before the recession, and observers think its growth will continue to outpace the nation’s.
A $141 million contract includes interchange improvements at Interstate 465 and new roundabout interchanges at 106th, 116th, 131st and 136th streets.
The four-lane roadway cost $45 million and follows a 5.3-mile route around the south and west sides of the city.
Officials say they didn’t see problems any worse than anticipated Tuesday morning when commuters dealt with the closure of a key section of Interstates 65 and 70. But the afternoon could be a different story.
State officials say revised plans for a section mean fewer homes and businesses would be torn down. And the cost is at least $100 million less than an estimate released last year.
The stoplight-plagued U.S. 31 through Kokomo will soon be supplanted by a new bypass nearing completion around the city.
INDOT said Wednesday it has awarded a $141 million contract for upgrades between 96th and 136th streets in Carmel to a joint venture between E&B Paving Inc. of Anderson and Gradex Inc. of Indianapolis.
The state hopes to start converting the 21-mile stretch of interstate early next year. The project is estimated to cost $394 million.
