Indiana has more than $2 billion in the bank, and its roads and bridges are crumbling at an ever-increasing rate. Because so many of the roads and bridges are quickly approaching their life expectancy, things are only getting worse. That’s what Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Karl Browning recently told an interim legislative study committee. “If you want different outcomes, we have to do something different,” Browning told legislators. “As a matter of policy, you all need to decide what we want to buy.” Highway funding is something legislators don’t like to talk about. That’s particularly the case for Republicans, who likely would oppose any type of tax increase to make the roads better. But that doesn’t include Republican state Rep. Ed Soliday of Valparaiso, who can be a maverick when it comes to following the party line. Soliday, who chairs the interim committee on transportation, said, “I think we need to think very honestly and say to the public: ‘Here’s our choices, here’s what it costs, and then somebody is going to have to exercise some political courage.’ There’s no free lunch here.” One of those with the courage is state Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, another member of the committee. Rogers said, “Everyone is afraid to say it, but I’m not afraid of that three-letter word – tax.” Rogers said that unless the state gets serious, there will be more disasters like shutting down the Cline Avenue Bridge with the intent to replace it with a toll road. Former Gov. Mitch Daniels turned his back on Cline Avenue, and Gov. Mike Pence isn’t about to spend a dime of the state’s surplus to reopen it as a freeway. Apparently Pence never has considered that rebuilding Cline as a freeway would be an attraction for businesses considering a move to Northwest Indiana. It just makes no sense to have a toll road running through one of the greatest industrial complexes in the nation. There’s not a lot of political courage when it comes to voting on a tax or new source of funding, especially for roads. I remember being in the Indiana House thirty-some years ago. At issue was a 1-cent increase in the state’s gasoline tax. It was just before midnight on the last session day, and Rep. Jerry Bales, a Bloomington Republican, held the deciding vote. Bales said that early in the day his life had been threatened if he voted for the tax. Shaking, with his finger poised over the voting buttons, Bales finally voted for the tax. There was no attempt on his life. It doesn’t have to be a hike in the gasoline tax to raise additional road funding. Soliday early this year had a bill approved that calls on INDOT working with experts in the private sector on alternative funding mechanisms for roads. The first report is due in July, leaving one legislative session prior to the 2016 election for governor. As people often say they can get a few more year out of that old winter coat, you’ve got to think you’ll hear legislators saying the same thing about roads. After all, it doesn’t take a lot of political courage to ignore a problem. Rich James has been writing about state and local government and politics for more than 30 years. Email him at rjames@219. The opinions are the writer’s. nwitimes/news/opinion/columnists/rich-james/rich-james-it-doesn-t-take-courage-to-ignore-a/article_407bacf0-d117-5bff-856b-e395b08d8373.html
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 09:01:34 +0000
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