The plan to pay for Indiana's road maintenance needs can be summed up in two words: Tolls, everywhere.
The House Roads and Transportation Committee unanimously approved legislation Monday that would allow the Indiana Department of Transportation, with the consent of Republican Gov. Mike Braun, to seek federal approval to impose tolls on every interstate highway in the state.
That includes Interstate 80, Interstate 94 and Interstate 65 in Northwest Indiana because House Bill 1461 would eliminate a current provision in state law barring tolling on interstate highways located within 75 miles of the Indiana Toll Road (Interstate 90).
The measure also would permit tolls to be collected for the use of U.S. highways and state routes with the approval of the Republican-controlled General Assembly — potentially subjecting Region motorists to numerous and repeated tolls as they drive every day from home to work and back, to local shopping centers, and pretty much anywhere worth going.
The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency estimates tolling could raise about $4.2 billion over the first five years of implementation, and $38.2 billion through 2050, depending on where and how INDOT chooses to implement the added charge for using existing highways, and whether the Indiana Finance Authority trades future toll revenues to a concessionaire for a one-time, up-front payment.
That would go a long way toward meeting what Purdue University estimates is an approximately $900 million annual shortfall in local transportation funding needed just to maintain the status quo, and the estimated $2.4 billion in extra annual spending required to raise every local road and bridge above a "poor" or "failed" rating.
Hoosier vehicle owners likely also would be hit with an additional wheel tax or surtax since the legislation requires local units of government to impose the charge, on top of the state's vehicle registration taxes and fees, in order to receive from the state future Community Crossing grants for local road and bridge projects.
State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, the committee chairman and sponsor of the proposal, said it's the end result of two years of study on how to make Indiana transportation funding sustainable over the long-term as inflation raises the cost of road construction projects and the state's gasoline tax revenue drops due to improved vehicle fuel efficiency and motorists switching to electric or hybrid vehicles — which already are charged an extra registration fee by the state.
"It is absolutely still a work in progress," Pressel said. "In conversations about road funding, lots of things need to be on the table."
The legislation next goes to the House Ways and Means Committee for a more in-depth review of its financial impact on Hoosiers.
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