Illiana Expressway Gets Moving
The Illinois legislature has authorized "quick take" legislation in order to proceed with the Illinois/Indiana Expressway.
One might wonder how there is federal funding for the project. The quick response is that Illinois and Indiana have it together enough to understand that there will have to be some kind of private bond process for a toll road development to occur. Without the use of a toll road, the road simply would not be built and traffic congestion would continue to mount.
Quick-take eminent domain procedures have been established law in Indiana for decades. If a Hoosier property owner does not accept the state's initial offer for a piece of land within 30 days, a court will have the land appraised. If the property owner does not accept the appraised price, the state can take the land. The property owner can then head to court to argue about the price but not the taking of the land itself.
One "preferred route" planners revealed in February for the Illiana Expressway would have the 50-mile road start at I-65 just south of 153rd Avenue, northeast of Lowell in unincorporated Lake County. It would head almost straight west between Cedar Lake and Lowell to the Illinois state line and then to Interstate 55, near Wilmington, Ill.
Funding for the road has not been appropriated in either state, although state officials are hopeful private investors could be found to pay for it in exchange for the right to collect tolls.
