Potholes widen as state struggles to pay for roads: Needs $7 billion in next 10 years

The money didn’t go far. His county’s allotment — about $500,000 — mostly bought thousands of gallons of thick oil and crushed stone to fill potholes.

“There’s a lack of understanding of what’s happening out here in the boonies,” said Meece. “We have roads with more patches than blacktop. We have patches on top of patches on top of patches.”

He isn’t the only one waving a warning flag.

Last week, state Transportation Commissioner Karl Browning gave budget-makers some dire news. Without a significant boost in road-repair money, 1 out of every 8 miles of highway will be in critical condition within a decade, costing nearly as much to fix as replace.

Browning estimates he needs more than $3 billion over the next 10 years just to curb existing damage. He’ll need more than $4 billion to bring the aging road system up to standard.

That doesn’t include the price tag to repair local streets — or repair and replace more than 1,500 bridges. Half of the state’s bridges are 50 years or older and soon will approach replacement age of 75.

“We’re not in a crisis yet,” Browning said, “but we’re on the cusp of a major problem.”

Some might see that as understatement. In a state that calls itself the “Crossroads of America,” a shortage of highway money has halted new construction as dwindling resources instead go to maintenance and repair.

That means no money for widening the congested arteries — Interstates 70 and 65 — that cross the state, even though a commission appointed by the governor last year identified those projects as essential.

“Indiana’s economy totally hinges on a good solid road network,” said Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville. “It’s just going to be a question of our willingness to face that issue.”

Legislators have long known they have a funding problem, caused in large part by declining revenues from an 18 cents per gallon gas tax, unraised since 2003, and the 18.4-cent federal gas tax, which has been static for more than 21 years.

Nine years ago, the state gas tax produced more than $624 million a year for state and local highway departments. Last year, it only generated about $500 million. Gas taxes have declined due in large part to more fuel-efficient vehicles.

During the last biennial budget session, in 2013, lawmakers moved to slow the drain. They diverted $135 million in annual fuel taxes that were going to the State Police and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. They also reallocated 1 percent of the current sales tax.

But it wasn’t enough. And the cost of maintaining and fixing roads has skyrocketed, officials say.

That’s especially tough on rural counties. The state uses a general formula to divide road repair money, based on miles of roads in each locale and the number of people who live there. It seems fair but doesn’t quite work.

In picturesque Parke County, home to historic covered bridges and 17,200 people, about 1 million tourists travel the roads each year.

Meece said county officials have had to let go of their promise to repave some of the asphalt roads that were ground into gravel in the past to reduce maintenance costs.

“As long as we’re so dependent on the gas tax, we’re not going to see any more money,” he said. “Just less and less.”

Over the last year, six states have raised gas taxes. Earlier this month, Michigan’s Republican governor called for doubling that state’s gas tax over the next four years to collect $1.7 billion a year in new revenue for infrastructure.

The idea is non-starter in Indiana, where Republicans who control the General Assembly have vowed not to raise taxes.

House Transportation Chairman Ed Soliday, R-Valpraiso, said raising the gas tax would be a temporary fix anyway. New federal fuel efficiency standards, which mandate an average of 55 miles per gallon, will kick in by 2025, resulting in even lower gas tax revenues.

Soliday wants all options explored. He’s awaiting an extensive study, due next summer, of alternative funding. Options may include raising vehicle registration fees, a user tax for owners of hybrid and electric vehicles, or adopting technology to track motorists’ mileage and tax them for how much they travel rather than how much gasoline they buy.

Soliday said Indiana can’t ignore the problem much longer.

“We need to be honest and say to the public, ‘Here are our choices, here’s what it costs,’ he said. “Then someone is going to have to exercise some political courage.”