By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Herald Bulletin
lindsay.whitehurst@heraldbulletin
While many officials and business people in Madison County say a proposed Indianapolis outer belt tollway could be good for the county, others raised questions about location, environmental impact, and the exact location.
"History has shown us that industry does tend to follow transportation, whether it's a river, railroads or now the interstates, or airports," Corporation for Economic Development Executive Director Mary Starkey said.
The road, called the Indiana Commerce Connector by Gov. Mitch Daniels when he proposed it nearly two weeks ago, would begin somewhere in the south part of Madison County and loop around Indianapolis to Interstate 70 near Martinsville.
A more direct route to Interstate 70, the "prime interstate running from east to west coast," would be an advantage for Anderson as a site for business, Starkey said.
It would be built of entirely new road, not on existing roads. The estimated $1.5 billion project would be completed by a private company, similar to the leasing of the Indiana toll road, but still be owned by the state of Indiana.
The project would begin somewhere between exit 10 and exit 14, according to Pendleton Town Council President Don Henderson.
Anderson Mayor Kevin Smith, however, is hoping that location isn't set in stone.
"I offered a suggestion that would save the state some dollars; it's another a bit further north on 69 from where it is now," he said.
He wouldn't say where, but a location closer to Anderson would allow the city to reap more of the benefits.
Henderson said the current proposed location would bring economic advantage to the whole county.
"I think it creates a venue and a road system that will accommodate additional industry that otherwise wouldn't come here," Henderson said.
The new road probably would lead to commercial, not residential growth, Michael Hershman, executive director of the Madison County Planning Commission, said.
"There's no direct access to Indianapolis and Hamilton County, where a lot of the growth is coming from," he said.
But County Commissioner Paul Wilson, D-South District, said he's not convinced the road would be an economic development help.
"Someone needs to explain what real economic advantage it would be to Madison County," he said. He also raised other as-yet unanswered questions about the environmental impact of building the tollway of entirely new roads, instead of improving existing roads, and of the validity of using imminent domain rights for a road built by a private company.
"When you do a project like this, there are some people who want to sell but other people who don't," he said.
The road solves two problems for Daniels: the tolls would provide a way to pay for the Interstate 69 expansion from Indianapolis to Evansville, and the outer beltway would, in theory, divert traffic from I-69.
But before anything goes forward, the Indiana Legislature has to transfer tolling authority from the I-69 extension to the new road.
Also worried about a privately-held road was John Paugh, CEO of Carter Express, an Anderson trucking company.
He said he's not worried about his trucks having to pay tolls - "we'll pay for a toll road one way or another, either through tolls or an increase in the fuel tax" - but what does worry him that when the road needs to be expanded, a private company might not have the income, or deem it profitable, to do the work.
"I think that roads should be publicly held," he said. But aside from that caveat, he's in favor of the road.
Under new federal laws, his drivers can drive 11 hours before they need to take 10 hours off, and the driving limit is 70 hours in a week.
"The problem with congestion is, too often a driver can't get to their destination. He runs late and runs out of hours," Paugh said. "It's very difficult to get a return out of the investment."
Ninety-four percent of goods in the U.S. are transported by truck.
While Paugh doesn't necessarily see his business expanding if a road is built, since it will give his competitors an advantage as well, he does see it as helping the company run more smoothly.
Chuck Kile, who owns a Skyline chili franchise located near exit 22, off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Anderson, said he's all for the toll road, as long as it would increase traffic near his intersection.
"There's a lot of buzz about future economic development here," he said. "It can't happen fast enough for me."