Dive Brief:

• The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission got behind the proposed Illiana Corridor project when a majority of its members, all local officials, voted to put the corridor in their plans, an important approval.
• Illinois and Indiana hope to jointly award a contract to build and run the corridor to a private entity, though officials said they are at least a year away from that point.
• The project, which is estimated to cost $1.3 billion to construct, would make truck traffic easier between Interstate 65 in Indiana and Interstate 55 in Illinois.

Dive Insight:

Both states' elected leaders back the project, saying it will be a job-creation project for both its construction and for businesses they believe will grow up along the corridor. Opponents argued at the most recent meeting in Indiana that the road will harm agricultural land and will draw traffic away from communities that benefit from it now. An Illinois regional planning agency approved the idea in October.