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The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has announced that it will remove the Illiana Expressway P3 (Illinois portion) from its current multi-year plan.

Two tender processes are currently halted for investors as a result of this decision. The other part of the Illiana Expressway P3 (Indiana portion) was suspended last February.

According to a statement released by Illinois' office of the government, the decision is part of an initiative to save about US$400 million. The statement read:

In light of the state's current fiscal crisis and a lack of sufficient capital resources, the Illiana Expressway will not move forward at this time. As a result, the Illinois Department of Transportation will remove the project from its current multi-year plan. It is the determination of IDOT that the project costs exceed currently available resources. The Department will begin the process of suspending all existing project contracts and procurements.

The Illiana Corridor is a proposed 50-mile access controlled highway which extends from the Illinois I-55 in the west to the Indiana I-65 in the east. The project is divided into the Illinois segment and the Indiana segment.

The corridor is located between Will County, Illinois and Lake County, Indiana. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) planned to begin construction on the Illiana Corridor in the spring of 2015.

In January 2014 we reported that IDOT received Statements of Qualifications (SOQs) from five teams to design, build, finance, maintain and operate the Illinois portion of the Illiana. Also, in January 2014 we reported that IFA / INDOT received six responses to the RFQ. Later in March 2014 IFA / INDOT shortlisted four of the six teams.

In December 2014 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) signed the Illiana Corridor Tier Two Record of Decision, marking the completion of the project's environmental planning phase.