Daniels suggests tolls on Ind. 37, I-69

(I am posting this entire Herald-Times article, since the HT online is subscription access.)

by Kurt Van der Dussen
the Herald-Times
September 27, 2005

Gov. Mitch Daniels is proposing that I-69 be built as a toll road to Evansville from Indianapolis via Bloomington, perhaps by a public-private partnership, with completion by 2018.

Daniels' plan apparently envisions even Ind. 37 -which now charges no fee to travel - being converted into a toll road when Ind. 37 is upgraded to interstate status.

"State Road 37 appears to be on its way to becoming a pay-per-use highway," Mayor Mark Kruzan said in response to the proposal. "I-69 is a bad idea that just got worse as well as more expensive for motorists."

Daniels' I-69 proposal was just one part of a huge 10-year, $10.6 billion highway package that he and the Indiana Department of Transportation call "Major Moves for Indiana."

It calls for $5.3 billion in new construction, of which I-69 is the biggest single project, and $5.3 billion in major maintenance and preservation projects.

In his official statement, Daniels said a toll road or a public-private partnership for building I-69 is the only way to get it done in any expeditious time frame.

"Under the traditional approach and the plan we inherited, construction wouldn't even begin until 2017, and that's unacceptable," he stated. "Tolling, and possibly a private partner, is the only way to build this essential piece of Indiana's future for our generation."

The full release on his new 10-year transportation plan noted that with traditional "pay-as-you-go" financing, as of the end of 2004 construction would have run from 2017 to 2035 at a cost of about $2 billion.

"If tolls were assessed between Indianapolis and Evansville, the state's cost would be cut dramatically and the project timeline could be compressed for earlier start and completion," it stated.

That indicates not just the new-terrain highway from just south of Bloomington to Evansville would be toll road. The stretch using existing Ind. 37 from just south of Bloomington to I-465 at Indianapolis would become a toll road as well.

Daniels' proposal doesn't specify how much the tolls might be for the total 142-mile length. Nor does it say how they'd be collected: Periodic toll booths with drive-by lanes for drivers paying electronically, such as those on the Tri-State Tollway around Chicago, or the Indiana Toll Road's system where the driver gets an entry ticket and pays a distance-based fee when he gets off.


Public-private partnership?
As for any public-private partnership, the state transportation department would use what's called a "design, build and operate" system that is being tried elsewhere in the nation.

According to INDOT's commissioner, Tom Sharp, "It is possible others can operate the toll road, and in the case of I-69, design, build and manage it, with more efficiency and at a lower cost for taxpayers.

"The leasing option is one that has been tested elsewhere and is achieving success," he stated in the official release. "There are other projects similar to I-69 that would never have been built without use of the public-private mechanism."

He referred to Chicago's turnover of the existing and paid-off Skyway to a private company to run it, and to a major project in San Diego that is building a state highway.

Such a project would require legislative approval, and Sharp stated that "We look forward to discussing these options with legislators as we explore how to make all of these projects move forward."


Legislators voice skepticism
One local lawmaker, state Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, said Monday she'd just gotten her first peek at the proposal and "I have not digested it." But she had some concerns.

"I have concerns about using toll roads and public-private partnerships," she said, noting that her "bottom line" for the public-private partnership is "quality of service and quality of product."

But she also said that "I can't fault the governor for thinking outside the box and trying to be creative" to get projects that have been sitting around for a long time under way.

Another lawmaker, Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said "I don't think that's an economic advantage to Bloomington to have to pay a toll" to drive where they can now go for free.

State Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, said she asked Daniels' office Monday morning if there would be untolled local access to I-69 for north-south travel within Bloomington and, if not, if the impact on added traffic to other north-south arteries had been determined.

"And they didn't know. They hadn't thought it through," she said.



CARR denounces plan
Linda Williamson, executive director of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp., said Monday that "I'm going to have to take a pass on this one" in terms of comment.

But Tom Tokarski, head of Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, a group that opposes a new-terrain highway, had no intention of taking a pass.

"I think what he's proposing is a private NAFTA toll road, which makes no economic sense at all," said Tokarski, alluding to the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement. He said the I-69 "Tier 1" study had said a toll road is not economically feasible for the project.

As for a public-private partnership, he said INDOT would be using eminent domain to claim private land for a private development.

Tokarski said if the state opts to go with a toll road, it will have to restudy just about everything because "it changes everything … We are going to insist that they go back and do the studies over again."

Tokarski forwarded a Sept. 20 letter he got from Sharp in which the commissioner told him that "INDOT may need to consider conducting a newer toll study in order to determine if tolling is a feasible funding option" for the I-69 project.

Simpson said she thought such a study would have to be part of a public-private partnership as well.

"I can't imagine that any private investor would not want to do a marketing study of their own to see if there was enough (projected) traffic" to make it financially viable, she said.

he's kissing his reelection chances goodbye if this proposal goes through.

All those conservatives in the southern half of the state will spit nails about this. I used to live among them and I know for a fact this will not fly with them.

Daniels is done if he pushes this.

I don't want to have to pay to drive 37 from Bloomington to Indy, either.

but us non-conservatives didn't vote for Mitch in the first place so the fact that we don't like what he's doing is pretty irrelevant to him and his future job prospects.

The fact that the people who DID vote for him are going to be very pissed about this does matter to him.

God knows what the price of gas will be by the time 37 is upgraded to an Interstate. Between that & having to pay tolls, you're right, the Rethugs won't be too happy with Mitch.

Educational costs haven't skyrocketed enough have they? Now Der Blade proposes saddling up students with an additional ROAD TAX anytime they enter or leave Bloomington. This is over the top. And demonstrates just how regressive the GOP in this state actually is. Maybe this will get 30,000 IU students in the street next time Mitch rv's down to Btown?

You know, like U.S. 41 and I-70? Why not make U.S. 41 limited access and build a bypass around Terre Haute?

Because that would apparently be logical.