Originally printed in the Indy Star, Letters to the Editor, April 14.
While road funding shortfalls are a statewide issue, the majority of problems created by these gaps fall to city, town and county governments. Why? Because these local governments maintain 75% of Indiana’s road lane miles and 70% of the state’s bridges, but receive only 46% of state-generated revenue for roads and bridge maintenance.
The challenges local governments face are considerable. According to the 2016 “Indiana Local Road and Bridge Conditions” report, only 15% of city roads, 17% of town roads and 11% of county roads were rated as “good.” All others were rated as “fair” or “poor.”
Facing these realities, we applaud the 2017 Indiana General Assembly for addressing long-standing road funding needs. They are wise to seek long-term dependable funding dedicated solely to road and bridge maintenance.
While both the House and Senate have addressed this issue, local government agencies support the House version of HB 1002, and encourage the Senate to consider a version that puts similar levels of resources and control into the hands of local governments.
The key difference between the two versions is the level of funding going to the local government agencies. According to an engineer studying the issue, the proposed increase for local road funding in the House version is 42 percent, versus a 20 percent increase in the Senate version.
The impact of this difference goes beyond pot holes and rusty bridge beams. If infrastructure so critical to the state’s economy continues to deteriorate, job growth and economic development will suffer.
As representatives of local governments throughout Indiana, we strongly encourage legislators to support the House version of the bill so that we can continue to grow and prosper.
April Fisher, Town Manager, Town of Cumberland
Gary D. Eakin, Town Manager, Town of Danville
Larry Longman, President, Town of McCordsville
Janet L. Jarson, President, Town of New Palestine
Andrew J. Klinger, Town Manager, Town of Plainfield
Gary L. Raikes, President, Town of Speedway
Tim Haak, Mayor, Town of Zionsville
Jim Brainard, Mayor, City of Carmel
Scott Fadness, Mayor, City of Fishers
Steve Barnett, Mayor, City of Franklin
Chuck Fewell, Mayor, City of Greenfield
Mark W. Myers, Mayor, City of Greenwood
Steve Collier, Mayor, City of Lawrence
John Ditslear, Mayor, City of Noblesville
Andy Cook, Mayor, City of Westfield
Mark Heirbrandt, Commissioner, Hamilton County
Gary Pool, Engineer, Hancock County
Lucas Mastin, Engineer, Johnson County