INDOT cancels, postpones projects

The number of nixed road and bridge plans is rising, the Indiana Department of Transportation told state lawmakers on Monday, citing “funding constraints.”

“We’ve continued to cancel projects. They’ve continued to have to be postponed,” Legislative Director Aaron Wainscott said.

INDOT reported hitting the brakes on 300 projects this time last year.

“I don’t have a specific number, but I can tell you for sure that number has continued to increase over the last 12 months,” Wainscott told the House’s Roads and Transportation Committee.

“It probably wouldn’t be real hard to get that number,” replied Committee Chair Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, who also requested the dollar amount associated with those projects.

Priority initiatives have been among those trimmed, per Wainscott.

INDOT had planned a “major” interchange improvement project northwest of Indianapolis, near Whitestown. But “due to funding constraints, we’ve had to break that into about three different projects that are going to be carried out at different times,” he said, instead of all at once.

Another priority project, which could cost $1 billion to build, took some heat.

The Mid-States Corridor is intended to better link State Road 66 to Interstate 69 in southern Indiana, according to its dedicated website. INDOT is still working on environmental review but plans to begin construction next year, Wainscott said, prompting disbelief from Pressel.

“We canceled over 300 projects in the last year and a half, but we’re going to spend a billion dollars on a brand-new roadway,” Pressel said. “… I’m not — I’m not getting it. … I’m really looking for some guidance on how we’re doing this, but yet we’re killing other projects.”

INDOT has eyed tolling as a potential revenue generator.

U.S. law generally bans user fees on federal-aid highways, including those that make up the Interstate Highway System. There are exceptions: two “mainstream” programs, which don’t require any state-federal tolling deal, and two application-only, limited-slot pilot programs.

Wainscott confirmed INDOT submitted a tolling application late last year to the Federal Highway Administration specifically for Interstate 70, but didn’t provide it to committee lawmakers or the Capital Chronicle.

“I’m not sure if it’s necessarily public, publicly displayed. That would not be up to me to make that decision,” he told Rep. Carey Hamilton, D-Indianapolis.

“Well, I’m officially requesting it,” she responded.

Wainscott also said INDOT has received “good feedback” on the application but noted the agency doesn’t know how long approval will take.

Gov. Mike Braun has said that he wants to capture dollars from out-of-state vehicles traveling through Indiana that don’t fill up at the gas pump.

The federal highway department previously referred the Capital Chronicle to INDOT regarding the application but didn’t say why it couldn’t disclose a copy.

Wainscott additionally reviewed early results from a highway construction speed enforcement pilot — reporting that “excessive” speeding of 11 miles per hour over the speed limit or more has dropped by 70% in camera-enforced zones. Ticket revenue goes to the state’s General Fund, not INDOT.

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