Indiana could see some significant infrastructure upgrades after Gov. Mike Pence announced Tuesday plans to spend $1 billion on road construction and bridge repair over the next four years.
Part of that strategy includes tapping into the state’s $2 million state surplus at up to $150 million per year.
Pence touted the strategy as a way to upgrade the state’s neglected infrastructure without raising taxes, adding that although it would cut into the state’s surplus, it should still be viewed as a positive achievement because it’s remedying one of the state’s most dire needs.
“I believe roads mean jobs,” Pence said during a press conference touting the deal Tuesday. “And I don’t just mean jobs when you have the right infrastructure and the opportunities that we have in the state of Indiana, we are going to continue to create the conditions and the environment that will set the pace that Indiana’s on today, [and] well into the future.”
Indiana Democrats don’t see it that way. They feel like Pence has put the Crossroads of America in harm’s way.
State Democratic Party chairman John Zody said in a statement Tuesday it took a month-long bridge closure, over $70 million in defective asphalt and a “public relations crisis” for Pence to take action.
“[Pence] finally put his ideology aside and begin tackling one of today’s biggest problems facing our state,” Zody added. “However, [Tuesday’s] announcement only achieves the bare minimum that’s needed to maintain Indiana’s D+ rated infrastructure system. With campaign polling showing him ‘in the low 30s’, the governor is making a political reaction to a real problem Hoosiers have known about all along. The sudden change in course shows that when given the choice, Pence will choose his ideology over the well-being of our state 100 percent of the time, and these delays hurt our state."
Then, in a press release sent to state media Thursday, state Democratic Party communications director Drew Anderson explained that an interim study committee for roads and transportation revealed an alarming fact: Pence’s plan to aid the state’s infrastructure neglects 90 percent of the state’s roads and bridges.
“One thing [the] hearing made clear: Gov. Pence’s $1 billion, four-year plan tells us he doesn’t see 90 percent of Indiana’s roads and bridges, the local roads everyday Hoosiers drive on each day, as a priority,” Anderson emphasized. “This week’s announcement not only tries to maintain just the bare minimum requirements to maintain Indiana’s D+ infrastructure system, but it confirms this plan was an attempt to put a Band-Aid on a public relations crisis that’s hurting the governor’s chance at re-election. But this is what we should expect from Mike Pence as he will put his career and ideology ahead of the overall well-being of Indiana 100 percent of the time, and to boot – members of his own party in the Statehouse are giving his announcement a lukewarm reception.”
All political squabbling aside, the Indianapolis Star Thursday morning affirmed the Democrats’ concerns. Pence’s proposal does in fact leave out most of the state’s roads and bridges, which are maintained at the city and county levels.
That could be a recipe for disaster considering that, according to the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program Center’s study, 11.35 percent of the Indiana’s county bridges have been deemed structurally deficient, and an additional 10.2 percent have been graded functionally obsolete.
In national terms, 15 percent of Indiana bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, which ranks the state about 17th best among America’s 50 states.
And although 13 of Howard County’s 133 bridges were deemed structurally deficient and 21 more rated functional obsolete by the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program study in 2012, Indiana’s bridges boast a 77.53 safety rating, which is just slightly below the national average rating of 78.
Locally, over a fourth of the county’s bridges, 25.56 percent, are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. But, that’s 4 percent less than the state average.
“Obviously, if there’s any money available, we always appreciate getting that,” Republican Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman said. “But, what I will say [is] our county highway department has performed at a high-caliber level over the years. If you were to compare our roads and bridges to other counties, you would find that ours are pretty exceptional.”
Wyman said as an avid cyclist, he often goes on rides that take him through multiple counties. He often doesn’t have to see a sign to know he’s crossed over from Howard into another county.
“That’s how different the roads are,” Wyman said. “Ted Cain, our highway supervisor, has a very good plan in place for how they pave roads and maintain our bridges. We have several of them this year. They’re on a rotation and they’re budgeted for. They do a really nice job.”
The county budget allocates $870,000 in 2016 for bridge repair alone, the same amount of money the county allocated in 2015.
“Would we like additional dollars to accelerate some of that stuff? Well of course we would,” Wyman added. “But, we also know there’s not just this unlimited supply of money. So, we tackle the serious issues right away. We stay on top of the ones that need maintenance. And, then the ones that can wait two or three years, they get put into the cycle that way."
How did we get in this predicament in the first place?
State Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, believes the answer is simple: The state has neglected its roads over the years. Plus, property tax caps have put local government units in a cramp in terms of the number of projects they can undertake.
Lanane sees the answer as two-fold.
For starters, regardless of fuel efficiency, all vehicles that use the state’s roads are putting wear and tear on them.
“All modes of transportation and manner of vehicles out there need to be paying their fair share,” Lanane said in July. “You have some hybrid cars and all-electric cars that pay very, very little in terms of gasoline taxes. Some states have looked at some sort of tariff or tax for the registration or re-registration of those vehicles so that they’re paying a little more of their fair share towards infrastructure.”
The other alternative? Just biting the bullet and increasing a gasoline tax that hasn’t been raised in over 20 years.
“That’s, of course, a tough sell in Indiana, where we don’t like to raise taxes ever,” Lanane added. “But, hey, at some point in time you have to look at how you are going to repair this infrastructure. And, it takes dollars.”