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posted June 29, 2006, 7:40 am EDST For Immediate Release Contact: John Moore, Environmental Law and Policy Center, 312-795-3706 Shannon Fisk, Environmental Law and Policy Center, 312-795-3731 Thomas Tokarski, Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, 812-825-9555 Sandra Tokarski, Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, 812-332-0025 TOLLING DEALS FATAL BLOW TO I-69! ▪ INDOT’s study confirms that highway is a tremendous waste of money. ▪ Tolling dramatically cuts the highway’s use. ▪ Tolling will divert even more traffic to side roads, causing more congestion and accidents. The re-evaluation report on Tier 1 of the I-69 extension that INDot released this week reveals serious fiscal and transportation problems with making I-69 a private toll road. The Environmental Law and Policy Center and Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads released today a preliminary review of the study. Our review is attached as a pdf file. Later today it will be posted at: http://www.i69tour.org/toll_failure.html Some key findings from the preliminary review (all conclusions based on INDOT’s own evaluation): • Up to nearly 50% more crashes compared to not tolling the road. • More fatalities compared to not tolling the road. • Tolling the road at the same prices as the Indiana Toll Road actually will lead to more truck travel time than not building the highway. • No Cost-Benefit Analysis was done for tolling. • Total employment, annual disposable income, employment in high-growth industries are reduced 30% to 40%. In fact, in some cases local communities would actually have worse traffic problems if a tolled I-69 is built. According to Shannon Fisk, staff attorney at ELPC, “tolling didn’t make sense 10 years ago, and it doesn’t make sense now. Tolling diverts traffic to side roads and will increase congestion problems while squandering the state’s transportation future.” The more than $1 billion saved by using the Common Sense Alternative, US-41/I-70, could be used to upgrade and repair highways throughout the region. It could also be built faster, something INDOT seems to favor above all else. " Commissioner Sharp has said the studies are proceeding ‘at warp speed’. Unfortunately, studies done at warp speed produce warped results." stated Thomas Tokarski, of Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads. Opposition to the new I-69, particularly as a private toll road, continues to grow. The re-evaluation study (as all previous InDOT studies) ignores overwhelming citizen opposition to this project. ******************************************************************************* Additional informationClick here to access:I-69 TIER 1 TOLL ROAD RE-EVALUATION REPORT: Preliminary findings June 29, 2006 |
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