News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Flashpoint

October 6, 2011

FLASHPOINT: Fiscal hawks: Speak out on state’s largest publicly funded project

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana has a number of fiscal hawks among our elected officials who talk tough about ending subsidies and cutting wasteful projects. But when the rubber meets the road, these officials have been astonishingly silent in voicing any concern about the largest publicly funded project in the state — the now projected $3 billion new terrain I-69 highway from Evansville to Indianapolis.

The cost to Hoosier taxpayers is even higher than the $3 billion price tag, though. Our organization recently released an economic analysis — reviewed by an economist formerly with the right-leaning Hudson Institute — which concludes that over the next two years, Indiana will dedicate 23 percent of our available funding for highway construction, maintenance, and repair to the new terrain I-69 project. In 2013 alone, 30 percent will be devoted to this single project.

Stunningly, this doesn’t even account for the projected — and likely underestimated — $1.2 billion portion of the project connecting Bloomington to Indianapolis, or the nearly half a billion dollar Indiana share of the Henderson Bridge that would interconnect I-69 in Kentucky with the new terrain route in Indiana, The state has no credible plans for how it would actually pay to finish this project. And unfortunately, new terrain I-69 proponents have been misleading in characterizing I-69 as 15 percent under budget. Proponents omitted a number of costs in their calculation: right-of-way acquisition, design and engineering, and construction administration. Tallying all costs up, the cost of building I-69 from Evansville to Crane is actually 24 percent over budget.

Pouring so much of our dwindling transportation resources into this project greatly impairs the state’s ability to meet more pressing infrastructure needs. One out of every five bridges in Indiana needs to be repaired or replaced. In Vigo County, 71 out of 270, or 26 percent, of bridges are considered deficient. Across the state, roads are scarred by potholes and some are being ground down to gravel because there is no money to fix them. According to policy analysts at Purdue’s LTAP program, more than 50 percent of our paved county roads require some kind of improvement.

Desperately needed improvements to a dangerous section of Indiana 63 have been delayed. Construction on Margaret Avenue over Thompson Ditch has been pushed back until 2012. And indiana 641 has been a work-in-progress for too long with completion not expected until 2014. These delays affirm that our existing roads and bridges suffer as funds are diverted to building new terrain I-69.

Misplaced priorities lead to unsafe driving conditions across our state for commuters, truckers, farmers, working parents, and the elderly who travel on this degraded infrastructure. We’re also potentially foregoing statewide economic growth and job creation. How can struggling Indiana counties possibly lure new investment when the condition of their infrastructure is falling behind neighboring states?

We can accelerate the repair of Indiana’s roads and bridges while also extending I-69 to Evansville if Indiana converts the U.S. 41/I-70 route to I-69. This alternative is about $1 billion cheaper and far less environmentally damaging than the current route, and that alternative will still be less expensive even if the new terrain route were to be built to Crane Naval Base. Detractors say that U.S. 41/I-70 will mean longer travel times from Indianapolis to Evansville, but it is about 13 minutes longer according to the state’s own estimates. Since the state has no credible plan to fund the Bloomington to Indianapolis portion of new terrain I-69 or the Henderson bridge project, it only makes sense to save a billion dollars and free up resources to accelerate the repair of our existing infrastructure.

In these times of economic distress, it is vital that our elected leaders uphold Hoosier values of common sense, prudency, and thriftiness. With funds for transportation infrastructure declining at the same time the need for repairing our roads and bridges continues to grow, Indiana must re-evaluate its spending on the costliest public project in the state’s recent history.

Switching course on the I-69 route is the ultimate opportunity for our state’s many fiscal hawks to show that they truly embrace Hoosier economic values. Vigo County commissioners Mike Ciolli, Judith Anderson and Paul Mason, and legislative leaders such as State Sen. Tim Skinner and John Waterman and Reps. Clyde Kersey, Bob Heaton and Bruce Borders, ought to pick up the phone and tell our leading gubernatorial candidates, John Gregg and Mike Pence, that we need to seriously re-examine our state’s transportation funding priorities and the financial wisdom of pressing ahead on I-69.

Changing direction on I-69 will put our state on a safer, more economically prosperous path.



Jesse Kharbanda is the executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, www.hecweb.org.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Flashpoint
Multimedia

Like us on Facebook!
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
Front page
AP Video
Boy to Rescuers: 'Do You Have a Plan?' US Airways: Diverted Flight Has 'Landed Safely' Doctors and Devotees Debate Barefoot Running Blacks Seek to Find Their Own Missing Serial Stabbings Suspect Guilty of Murder Revived Focus on Regulation After JPMorgan Loss Gerard Butler: the Good, the Bad and the Cannes Sheriff: DNA Links Suspect to Missing CA Teen 8 Hurt in Oklahoma Shooting After NBA Playoff Raw Video: Private Rocket Blasts Off Chicago Police: 90 Arrested in NATO Protests New Medicine. Can IPads Help Spot Dementia Risk? A Few Odd Business Sparks but Europe Gloomy Ex-Rutgers Student Gets 30 Days in Webcam Case At Least 25 Dead in India Train Collision Facebook Shares Continue Negative Slide Fired Lingerie Employee Claims Discrimination Raw Video: Man Saved After Niagara Falls Plunge Remains of Veterans Found in Basement Are Buried White House Cautiously Optimistic on Iran
NDN Video
Daisy Sizzles in Sexy Swimwear Officers Use Deadly Force on Mountain Lion in Santa Monica Lea Michele Shows Major Skin 8 Hurt in Oklahoma Shooting After NBA Playoff Why Cee Lo Thinks 'The Voice' is So Popular Burlesque New Orleans Mike Posner Talks Sneakers: Bamboozle 2012 Howard Stern Makes Kid Cry on AGT Neighbor Feud Results in Dog Poop in Mailbox Tiger's Ex-Wife Bares Her Bod VIDEO | Zoo Chimp Charges Children Child locked in washing machine after father put him there Incubus On Working With Odd Future: Bamboozle 2012 'PLL' First Look Clip! Fired for being 'too hot' Ashley Olsen is a Bikini Babe 'Part of Me' Details 'Bumpy' Marriage, Says Katy Music downloader owes nearly $700K in fines Kardashian Sisters Pose in Lingerie Raw Video: Man Saved After Niagara Falls Plunge
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News