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As Key Vote Looms, Illiana Expressway Foes Ramp Up

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Another crucial vote on the controversial proposed Illiana Expressway is just weeks away, and opponents are gearing up by branding it one of the biggest "boondoggles" in the country.

Abe Scarr of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group says money for capital projects in Illinois is far too scarce to waste on the proposed Illiana, which would link I-65 in Indiana with I-57 south of the metropolitan area.

Illiana Expressway

Scarr said there are many better ways to spend any money set aside for the Illiana, which could cost up to $2.8 billion to build.

"We'd rather see it spent to maintain our current infrastructure -- roads, bridges and railways and alternative transportation choices that people are making, such as public transportation, trains and buses," he said.

PIRG also puts its stamp of disapproval on I-94 widening projects in Milwaukee and Detroit.

To make their point to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning members who will vote next month whether to include the Illiana in its federal funding request, the opponents are hosting a news conference Thursday beneath the crumbling bridge on Halsted Street over Kinzie Street and Metra.

The Illiana is designed to mitigate truck traffic, especially along Interstate 80/94.

IDOT has said Interstate 80 cannot meet the demands of future truck traffic. The Illiana Expressway will be a major truck route, with 40 percent to 50 percent of its traffic being trucks.

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