Democrats say 'no' to I-69 toll road

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' Republican vision for State Road 37 includes repaving already paved land into an Interstate 69 extension toll road, but three local democratic leaders have drawn a political line in the sand, saying "a toll road will have profound negative effects on the residents of Monroe County."\nState House of Representatives Matt Pierce, D-61, and Peggy Welch, D-60, together with State Senator Vi Simpson, D-40, issued a letter to the Federal Highway Administration July 21 declaring no I-69 toll road is the only road they will accept besides an already taxpayer-funded State Road 37.\nTOLLING NOW\nRep. Pierce, Rep. Welch and Sen. Simpson's concern stems from an Indiana Department of Transportation "Tier 1" Reevaluation Study released in June 2006 that surmised a proposed I-69 corridor between Evansville, Indiana's third-largest city, and Indianapolis was best suited as a toll road, even though INDOT's original "Tier 1" Evaluation Study between 2000 and 2004 indicated tolling was not a viable option for any proposed I-69 extension, so the costs and benefits were never weighed.\n"The Tier 1 Reevaluation's conclusion that tolling should be considered as an option for I-69 is not supported by its own analysis. That analysis finds a toll road will cause increased congestion, reduced safety and diminished economic development compared to a free highway," Rep. Pierce, Rep. Welch and Sen. Simpson stated in their letter to the FHA. "The logical conclusion from the Reevaluation should have been not to pursue a toll road scenario because of its tremendous negative impact on the people who live along the selected corridor ... While claiming 'these impacts can be adequately addressed and mitigated,' the report fails to explain in any meaningful way how they will be mitigated."\nBut repaving State Road 37 into an I-69 extension toll road is exactly what Daniels has in mind. INDOT Commissioner Tom Sharp said in a June 23 press release that the governor has targeted groundbreaking for the summer of 2008, the last year of his four-year elected term, and the project will conclude by 2018 -- some 20 years ahead of former Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon's original estimate for a non-tolled I-69 extension.\n"The purpose of the reevaluation is to see if our current route is the best choice for I-69 if we build it as a toll road. Our analysis indicates that it is," Sharp is quoted as saying in the INDOT release. "Governor Daniels has solved the funding issue and we are moving at warp speed to deliver Major Moves. I-69 is a key component of the state's goal of becoming a global transportation and logistics center."\nTOLLING TAX\nIn keeping with his 2004 campaign promise to attract "other people's money," Daniels' 2006 Major Moves transportation bill, approved by a Republican-dominated statehouse across party lines in the wee hours of the morning, sold the Indiana East-West Toll Road -- which connects Chicago to the Northeast -- for a 75-year period at the cost of $3.85 billion dollars to the international Spanish-Australian Consortium Cintra-Macquarie. Major Moves also approved tolling along any paved I-69 extension, although Martinsville Republicans blocked the possibility of tolling between their city and Indianapolis and Marion County Republicans blocked tolling in Perry Township, dependent upon future legislation reversing those promises.\n"Today marks an extraordinary moment in state history. A breakthrough like this may come but once in a public service lifetime," Daniels said in a Jan. 23 Major Moves statement issued by his office. "As a candidate for governor, I said that we should explore the possibility of attracting private capital, 'other people's money' that no Hoosier need to be taxed for, to build the great projects we cannot afford, bringing with them countless thousands of new jobs and a more prosperous future for our children."\nBut taxing Hoosier children is exactly what an I-69 extension toll road will do, each and every time community members exchange their hard-earned currency for the right to travel along roads they have already paid for and are free as of today, opponents said. Daniels' and other state employees will add an additional tax to Hoosier families each time they travel down the proposed I-69 toll road because they will exchange tax-payer dollars for the right to travel down an already paved State Road 37.\nAccording to a list of "frequently asked questions" provided by the Indiana Department of Transportation, Major Moves will eliminate the state's estimated $2.8 billion dollar transportation budget deficit over the next 10 years, has the potential to create more than 130,000 jobs and will provide funding for more than 200 vital transportation projects across the state. \nDEVIL IN THE DETAILS\nIndiana House of Representative Democrats claim the "devil is in the details," stating among other negative consequences that "Indiana citizens are going to pay a dear price for this deal for generations to come." Neither Daniels nor his representatives had responded to any one of 10 questions sent to his office regarding Major Moves and the I-69 toll road extension as of press time. \nRep. Pierce said the kind of modern statewide economic infrastructure needed in the 21st century is not more pavement atop pavement that tax Hoosiers for up to the next century.\n"Politically we need to keep telling the governor that this is not something that's good for the community ... If economic development is your number one concern, then we should be investing in our education system and making sure we have a well trained workforce, and helping to develop small businesses -- growing businesses -- we already have in our state," Pierce said Tuesday. "The issue in front of us most directly is in regards to the Tier 1 Reevaluation, whether State Road 37 should be converted into a toll road, and if we should be forced to pay for a road that's been free for decades now. And the message we're trying to send to the governor and to our colleagues in the legislature, and most importantly to the Federal Highway Administration, is that a toll road will not be good for the Bloomington community and Monroe County as a whole"