Daviess County looks to leverage transportation plan with Indiana Legislature

"We're expecting this to be the infrastructure session," said State Rep. Mike Braun (R-Jasper), who sits on the House Transportation Committee. "The last session we took care of funding education and putting the surplus into place. We have a great credit rating and a financial cushion, now it is time to look at roads and bridges."

Braun says the state needs to reverse a long standing trend. For years Indiana did not put enough money into the road accounts to keep them up. Now with hybrid vehicles and higher mileage vehicles on the road, the gas tax has stopped providing enough money to maintain the roads.

"The gas tax is deficient," said Braun. "Now we need to be doing major repairs. We need an additional $500 million to $1 billion annually to keep up. The Legislature is going to have to find the fortitude to come up with the funds to pay for it. I believe we need to get gas and diesel indexed to pay for the work."

Last week Governor Mike Pence announced he would authorize the spending of $1 billion from the state's surplus over a four-year period on the roads. Critics have called that a drop in the bucket compared to what needs to be done.

"Most people who know infrastructure say that's not nearly enough," said Braun.

If fixing the state's infrastructure means raising taxes, Braun believes it will require two elements.

"It cannot be done in a way that sends all of the money to the center of the state," he said. "Everyone has to feel like they are getting a benefit, and the plan has to include additional money for cities, towns and counties."

The promise of an infrastructure session that could provide additional funding for roads and bridges has Daviess County officials looking at developing a transportation plan that will help put the county into a position to best use any new dollars.

"I think a transportation plan is important and I see an opportunity here," said Daviess County Commissioner Nathan Gabhart. "I am trying to leverage the situation as much as we can with the thought of seeing increased funding."

"I hope it is true this will be the infrastructure session," added Daviess County Highway Superintendent Phil Cornelius. "We've talked about a transportation plan for quite some time. Everyone realizes we are in a growing community, and it is prudent to have plans in place in order to effectively manage our transportation growth."

Local officials know that they cannot control what the Legislature will do in terms of road funding. Still, they believe a plan for transportation in the county is needed.

"Legislature or no Legislature, I think it is the right thing to do," said Cornelius. "We need to get public input. We need to find out where the growth is going to occur, not just the business growth, but also housing. We want people to work in Daviess County and live in Daviess County. Being able to make decisions on what roads get updated, based upon lots of criteria and getting involvement I think is a great thing."

"These are plans we need to have in place," added Gabhart. "We spend millions of dollars a year on our infrastructure as it is, and we need to make sure we are spending that money in the right spots. Historically, we have done a great job. We've had some great people involved. I just think a plan allows everyone to stay on task."

One part of staying on task is knowing which roads are getting the most use now. Local officials have begun discussions with the Southern Indiana Development Commission to do some additional traffic counts to determine some potential future changes on roads.

"We need the raw numbers," said Gabhart. "We have 550 miles of gravel roads. Which, in the 21st Century, we need to look at getting that number down. We need to know which roads we need to improve that benefit the common good of the most taxpayers. That is what makes this so difficult. Which roads do you update?"

Further complicating the travel plan for Daviess County is the opening of I-69. Some roads that once carried traffic now dead end at the interstate. Traffic coming off of the exits has increased the amount of vehicles on other county roads.

"We received from grants from INDOT that was for traffic counts and planning," said Cornelius. "We have a little bit of this already out there. We just need to expand on that and give us the opportunity to expand wisely."

If Daviess County winds up deciding it needs to build new roads or convert old gravel roads into new paved ones, the county will need to figure out a way to do the work cost effectively. One way the county hopes to accomplish that is by operating its own asphalt plant. The plant was bought on surplus from the federal government and is being put back together again at the highway garage.

Daviess County has now hired a consulting firm to help get the plant the proper permits to operate.

"We are trying to get it ready to operate next season," said Cornelius. "We want to capitalize on the savings we can get from making our own asphalt. We are looking to expand our roads in a sustainable, fiscally responsible manner and that is where the plant comes into play."

Daviess County officials hope to get their studies done and plan in place by next fall. While local leaders look at future road improvements, the state is also looking at developing its own infrastructure plan that will also reach well into the future.

"For our state this is the most important thing we need to work on, not only this year, but over the next several years," said Braun. "Roads and infrastructure are the key to our economic development and growth. We really are at a day of reckoning and whatever we do, we need to get it right."