Federal transportation bill to boost South Shore, NWI highways

The nation's last five-year transportation bill expired in 2010 and because of congressional wrangling, the nation since has relied on more than 30 short-term extensions to fund roads and mass transit. The new bill is called the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, commonly called the FAST Act.

"The fact that it is for a full five years is really helpful for predictability and stability when it comes to transportation planning in our Region," Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Tyson Warner said.

Although Tyson and others have only been able to start studying the 1,300-page bill, they already found a number of programs that appear to increase funding nationally to help fix expressways, develop areas around train stations, expand the South Shore, and expand bus service.

According to an analysis released by U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, the bill increases funding for Indiana highway programs by $448 million and increases funding for Indiana transit programs by $29.7 million during its five-year term.

"I am pleased that this measure includes provisions to strengthen Buy America requirements," Visclosky said. "During these challenging days for steelworkers, we must do all we can to make more American steel."

A big emphasis on freight and goods movement is reflected in the FAST Act's creation of new programs to focus aid on highways regarded as important "freight corridors" to speed delivery of goods, Warner said.

With four major interstates converging in Northwest Indiana, the Region should be a beneficiary of some of those new freight corridor programs.

The bill boosts highway spending by 15 percent nationally and transit spending by 18 percent over its duration.

However, it does nothing to resolve the long-term shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund, which is funded by a federal gasoline tax that has not increased since 1993. The proceeds of that tax once paid virtually the entire federal share of road and transportation  funding in this nation.

Instead, the FAST Act relies on short-term fixes some are calling gimmicks, such as transferring about $49 billion over 10 years from a Federal Reserve capital account to the general treasury and counting the money as new revenue.

"We are thankful to have five years of funding, but there is still this overall challenge of figuring out how to keep the Highway Trust Fund going," Warner said.

The transportation bill comes around the bend just as the South Shore is planning for projects that will change the face of Indiana's only commuter railroad.

The Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program, which could fund 50 percent of the $571 million needed to expand the South Shore to Dyer, appears to be in for a significant increase in funding, according to Michael Noland, general manager of Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which operates the South Shore.

Also in for an increase is the program that allows commuter railroads to maintain a state of good repair, Noland said. The South Shore receives about $12 million per year from the program.

"We've invested hundreds of millions of dollars to keep this railroad in a state of good repair," Noland said. "But you can't just stop."

The bill also puts up $200 million for a rail safety program known as positive train control, but that falls far short of the more than $3 billion estimated costs of implementing the program nationwide.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.