Sandra Tokarski

Vic Heinold

Indiana State Senator

District # 5

PO Box 1040

Valparaiso, IN 46384

June 27, 2005

Dear Senator Heinold,

INDOT has asked you to help cut projects or implement new financing mechanisms to make up for a $2.2 billion new-highway funding gap. We only wish this were the size of INDOT's budget shortfall.

INDOT continues to have bigger ideas than it has a wallet....much bigger. Currently, as they ask you to abandon projects, they are adding brand new ones and excluding previously proposed projects from your review. They admit a $2.2 billion deficit, but we have found it to be several times greater. We believe that you will find our information indispensable in fully understanding the INDOT budget crisis, and for crafting a fiscally sound new-highway building program for Indiana.

In early June, INDOT sent to you a Survey of proposed new-road projects in the counties you represent and asked that you rate them. Citing a 10-year, $2.1 billion funding gap for new highway construction, INDOT announced its intention to release by September a detailed list of projects, when they would be built, and a mechanism to fund them. They anticipate that these funding mechanisms will require Legislative action in 2006.

In a chart accompanying the survey, INDOT suggested that previously promised new-road construction requires $4.6 billion over the next 10 years, while the expected revenue amounts to only $2.4 billion. Yet, INDOT's Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) actually anticipates more than $6 billion in new construction projects from 2005 through 2014. This billion dollar discrepancy between two INDOT documents prompted us to examine more closely the projects listed in the Survey and those listed in the LRTP. (While INDOT's Survey concentrates on new-road projects over the next 10 years, the LRTP schedules these projects through 2030.)

This is just some of what we found:

INDOT's Survey includes 116 projects with a total price tag of $6,178,986,000.
INDOT's Survey adds 53 brand new projects that do not appear in the LRTP, so we could not assign a cost. 12 of these projects were added to the Survey in just the last few weeks.
INDOT's Survey abandons 100 projects that appear in the 10-year LRTP totaling $2,126,690,000.

INDOT's Survey includes the proposal to extend I-69 from Indianapolis to Evansville even though that road system is not anticipated in the next ten years. The proposed extension of I-69, along with the proposed new road from Evansville to Kentucky, adds $1.95 billion to the Survey's identifiable price tag.

All of this suggests that the REAL new-highway construction funding gap is even more staggering and adds up to at least $4.4 billion over the next 10 years, before adding the cost of the proposed extension of I-69 and before adding the cost of the 53 brand new projects. Including the proposed extension of I-69 at this juncture balloons the funding gap to at least $6.1 billion.

The proposed extension of I-69 would be the most expensive highway ever built in Indiana. Because ALL of INDOT's projects are paid from the same pot of money, the extension of I-69 clearly threatens the viability of other new-road construction projects THROUGHOUT the State.

For the sake of a fiscally sound Indiana with safe roads where there already exists clear transportation needs, we ask that you consider this statement for the comment line of your INDOT Survey: "As currently configured, the proposed extension of I-69 is too expensive for Indiana. I believe that INDOT needs to look for a fiscally responsibly alternative."

So that you have the most complete information available for Senate District # 5 we have included a list of all of the new-road projects proposed in the LRTP for the counties you represent, their cost, and notation as to which are included in the Survey. Additional information is also provided. If you would like to see the full report of our study, please visit our web site at
www.I69tour.org/INDOT.html.

Thank you for your interest in a fiscally responsible financial plan for INDOT and the taxpayers of Indiana.

Sincerely and on behalf of,

Sandra Tokarski

Thomas Tokarski

COUNT US! [John Smith, (812) 327-6142]

Hoosier Environmental Council [Nick Keener, (317) 507-4965]

Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads [Thomas & Sandra Tokarski, (812) 825-9555]

Southwest Perry Civic Association [John Braun, (317) 889-0029]

Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations [Pat Andrews, (317) 856-3341]