Life in the Slow Lane

How INDOT is Underfunding Indianapolis Road Improvements

By
Aaron M. Renn
arenn@urbanophile.com

Copyright (c) 1996, 1997
All Rights Reserved

Version 2.0.2
May 25, 1997

I. OVERVIEW

Many people throughout the state of Indiana believe that Indianapolis, as the state capital and the state's largest city, disproportionately benefits from state spending. For example, the South Bend Tribune wrote in a recent editorial that the 1996 state election "spells an end to the days when the state's 'spending line' seemed to stop at the Indianapolis city limits."[1] This editorial is typical of its ilk in that it is long on accusations that Indianapolis unfairly benefits from state spending, but short on facts backing it up.[2] The idea of Indianapolis dominance is treated as if it were as self evident as the law of gravity and in need of no proof.

This paper will examine one specific area of state expenditures - state highway expansion spending - and show that here the common belief of Indianapolis dominance is nothing more than a myth. The truth is that Indianapolis is getting far less than its fair share of highway spending.

It's true. While the City of Indianapolis continues to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in road improvements as part of its nationally heralded and widely emulated infrastructure improvement program, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is doing comparatively little for the city. On a per capita basis, it is spending far less in Indianapolis than in the rest of the state. This is despite the fact that Indianapolis area is the largest and fastest growing region in Indiana. This assertion will be clearly demonstrated by facts. This paper will show that, INDOT claims to the contrary, the state has the money to implement Indianapolis projects, but has simply chosen to spend it elsewhere.

II. GROWTH IN INDIANAPOLIS

The eight county Indianapolis area[3] is the fastest growing region[4] in the state of Indiana. According to the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at the Indiana University School of Business, the Indianapolis region added over 94,000 people between 1990 and 1995 for a growth rate of 7.5%. This compares with statewide growth of approximately 260,000, or 4.7%.

Table 1: Population Change in Indianapolis and Indiana
Source: Indiana Business Research Center 1995 County Population Estimates

Note that while the Indianapolis area only accounts for 23% of the state's population, it has accounted for 36% of the state's total population growth during the 1990's.

Even more remarkable than the growth of the Indianapolis area as a whole has been the growth of the suburban counties surrounding Marion. On a percentage basis, five of the top ten fastest growing counties in Indiana are in the Indianapolis area. This includes the top three fastest growing counties, Hamilton, Johnson, and Hendricks.

Table 2: Indiana's Fastest Growing Counties
Source: Indiana Business Research Center 1995 County Population Estimates and the 1990 US Census
Note: Italics indicates an Indianapolis area county

Not only is the Indianapolis area prominently represented in the top ten fastest growing county list, all of the Indianapolis area counties listed have a population greater than 50,000 people. All of the other counties are less than 50,000. This makes the Indianapolis growth stand out even more since it takes a smaller absolute population growth to make a high percentage gain in small county than in a large one. (For example, adding 15 people to a county with 15 in it is a 100% increase. Adding 15 people to a county with 100 people in it is only a 15% increase).

Hamilton County particularly stands out. At 29.2%, not only does it rank as the fastest growing county in Indiana, it is also the fastest growing county in the entire Midwest and one of the fastest growing in the whole country (IBRC).

III. INDOT AND INDIANAPOLIS

INDOT is responsible for many of the roadways in the Indianapolis region. This includes the interstate highway system as well as many of the principal spoke routes radiating from I-465, such as Pendleton Pike, Rockville Rd, Washington St., Michigan Rd., and US 31. INDOT's plans for the improvements of these roads are critical to the long term economic growth of the city and quality of life for its residents, particularly given the very high population growth rate shown above.

However, despite Indianapolis' high growth rate, INDOT is doing relatively little for the city compared to the rest of the state. This contradicts the myth (often propagated by outstate communities lobbying for money) that Indianapolis disproportionately benefits from state dollars at the expense of the rest of the state. In fact, the opposite is true (for highway spending at least). The Indianapolis area heavily subsidizes road construction projects in outstate areas (by virtue of INDOT spending less than the statewide per capita rate in Indianapolis). The following subsections demonstrate this.

Near Term Horizon

One INDOT planning document (Transportation in Indiana, 8-55) lists all major state road improvement projects[5] planned for construction between 1995 and 1999. There are approximately $650 million[6] in projects listed. Of this, only $10 million, or 1.7% of the money, is planned to be spent in the Indianapolis area.

Table 3: Indianapolis Population and Transportation Spending
Source: Indiana Business Research Center 1995 County Population Estimates and INDOT’s Transportation in Indiana, page 8-55.

Over the five year period covered by this document, INDOT is planning essentially no major investment in Indianapolis despite a total statewide investment of $650 million.

Mid Term Horizon

INDOT publishes a book annually called the Directory of Proposed Highway Projects. This book lists highway projects proposed for construction through the year 2006.[7] An analysis of each and every expansion project costing over $100,000 showed that the state is planning to spend an average of $252 per person statewide on capacity increasing projects. In the Indianapolis area, however, INDOT is only planning on spending $143 per person (Renn). This is only 57% of the statewide average and represents a vast underfunding of the state’s fastest growing region.

A listing of proposed INDOT spending by region is included in Appendix A.

Long Term Horizon

Even given a longer term horizon, INDOT is planning comparatively little investment in Indianapolis. Every urban area in the country is required by law[8] to prepare a 25 year long range plan detailing all proposed transportation projects. Only projects that are believed to be realistically fundable can be included. This makes it impossible for transportation officials to load up the plan with pie in the sky projects that are not realistically implementable. The Indianapolis area long range plan (LRP), which was developed with heavy INDOT involvement,[9] shows, between today and the year 2020:

• No widening of any part of I-465. Widening of I-465 from six to eight lanes is shown as a need between Kentucky Ave. on the southwest side, northward and around to I-70 on the east side. This is estimated to cost about $943 million (LRP, Appendix C). None of this money is listed as being available until after 2020 at the earliest.

• No upgrade of US 31 to a freeway. The LRP allocates about $36 million for widening the existing road to six lanes, but does not include any money to turn any part of US 31 into an interstate caliber road. The recently complete major investment study (MIS) of the US 31 corridor estimated that this upgrade will cost approximately $300 million.[10]

• No upgrade of SR 37 North to a freeway. The LRP only allocates $9.8 million for widening the existing road to six lanes, but does not include any money to turn any part of SR 37 into an interstate caliber road.[11]

• Only limited improvements to I-70 near the airport and Six Points Rd. An INDOT sponsored study of improvements to I-70, including a Six Points Rd. interchange and a new airport interchange showed a need for approximately $149 million in improvements (Six Points Rd. Public Hearing). The LRP shows that only $38 million is available through 2020.[12]

The Indianapolis LRP estimates that there will be approximately $868 million[13] available to be spent in the Indianapolis metropolitan planning area (MPA)[14] on capacity expansion projects (LPR, 9) between now and 2020. Comparatively, this is a small value. For example, the Louisville MPA includes Clark and Floyd Counties in Southern Indiana. These counties had a 1990 combined population of 152,178. This contrasts with over one million people in the Indianapolis MPA in 1990. Yet the Louisville LRP estimates that there will be $307 million in funds available for projects in Clark and Floyd County between now and 2020 (KIPDA, 55), which is a much higher per capita value than in Indianapolis.

Clark County I-65 Widening

Before the end of the decade, INDOT plans to begin widening 9 miles of I-65 in Clark County from four lanes to six/eight lanes from the Ohio River (where the Kennedy Bridge is already seven lanes) to SR 311 (Transportation in Indiana). The $265 million[16] price tag of this project is comparable to the estimated $270 million cost of widening 11 miles of I-465 from six to eight lanes in the northeast quadrant from the east I-70 interchange to Keystone Ave. (LRP, Appendix C). Therefore, it is useful to compare the two segments of roadway. The following table summarizes traffic information from the 1990's for the two segments.

Table 5: Traffic Volumes on I-65 and I-465
Source: INDOT Interstate Traffic Flow Maps, 1990 and 1994[18]

By any standard, the traffic on I-465 in Marion County is greater than on I-65 in Clark County. It is also increasing at a far faster rate, probably because of the skyrocketing population of Hamilton and northern Marion Counties, as well as a boom in commercial development. Clark County, by comparison, actually lost population during the 1980's and has shown only modest population growth of 4.6% during the 1990's (IBRC Estimates). This might explain its lower traffic volume growth. It should also be noted that while Clark County's population is only 92,000 people, Marion County's is 818,000 (IBRC Estimates). Therefore the I-65 widening represents a far greater per capita commitment of funds than an I-465 widening.

Traffic on I-465 is rapidly starting to display the type of congestion that Indianapolis residents used to only see on television. Traffic is stop and go daily from before Keystone Ave. to past I-69 on the north leg and various other interchanges are starting to show congestion as well (such as I-74/Crawfordsville Rd). Any adverse driving conditions (including just rain) have catastrophic consequences. The prospect of driving I-465 in 25 years with no widening is truly frightening.

However, according to the LRP, there is no plan to widen I-465. Instead, INDOT is proceeding with widening a road that has less traffic volume (even accounting for the difference in the existing number of lanes) and is exhibiting far slower traffic growth. Portions of the I-65 corridor in Clark County proposed for widening carry less than 50,000 cars per day. There are surface streets in Indianapolis that carry more traffic than that.[19]

With an AADT of less than 38,000 cars per day, the section of I-65 between SR 60 and SR 311 is particularly lightly traveled. If that is the threshold value for widening a four lane interstate to six lanes, then I-69 should be widened all the way to Exit 22 in Anderson, I-65 should be at least six lanes from SR 44 in Franklin to Lebanon, and I-70 would need to be widened as far east as SR 109 in Henry County (1994 Interstate Flow Map).

What is INDOT planning to do to address rapidly escalating traffic volumes in the northeast Indianapolis area? Their answer is Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). ITS consists of various traffic management strategies and devices that are designed to, according to INDOT, squeeze better efficiency out of the system now in place (Dinnen). What does ITS consist of? ITS strategies include such items changeable message signs to tell motorists to try alternate routes when a road is congested, cameras to allow officials to quickly notice when an accident has occurred, and service trucks to help stranded motorists. While these are good items to have (and are being widely deployed throughout the country), they still do nothing to address insufficient capacity on the underlying roadway. At its heart, ITS is little more than a band aid solution to traffic problems.[20] Also, it would seem logical to expand the roadway where the need is greatest and use ITS where the need is less. However, INDOT appears to be doing just the opposite.

Even assuming the ITS approach is valid, INDOT is lagging far behind other state transportation agencies in deploying ITS in Indianapolis, contrary to INDOT claims that it is a leader in ITS.[21] Indeed, Indianapolis is the largest metropolitan area in the entire United States that does not have any of the five ITS systems being tracked nationwide deployed.[22]

INDOT's abdication of its responsibility to relieve congestion on I-465 has forced local government to take the lead. The City of Indianapolis and other local agencies are spending millions on upgrades to I-465 alternates such as 96th St. and Shadeland Ave. In effect, INDOT has shifted the financial burden of reducing traffic congestion on I-465 from state government to local government.

New Ohio River Bridges

Besides the $265 million widening of I-65, there is another, potentially larger project being studied in Clark County. This is an additional $545 million to build two new bridges across the Ohio River to relieve congestion on the I-65 Kennedy Bridge. The recently completed Ohio River Major Investment Study (ORMIS) recommended building a new bridge paralleling the Kennedy and a new eastern bridge that would link up Indiana and Kentucky's sections of I-265 (Merk).

While this project, like the widening of I-465, is currently unfunded, it is included here because:

• Unlike for major Indianapolis projects, former Gov. Evan Bayh took a personal interest in this proposed project, stating, "I strongly support the I-265 bridge that will connect Indiana and Kentucky."[23] Gov. O'Bannon supports the project as well.

• Unlike for I-465, INDOT has completed the MIS that by law must be performed before commencing most major interstate expansion projects. It is also actively meeting with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to work out details of bi-state management of this project (Louisville Bridge Update). INDOT is not even studying the mainline of I-465.[24]

• A new Ohio River bridge has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles in Louisville, including Page One items (for example, Woolfort, "Downtown Span").

• INDOT is pursuing this project despite its high cost and the fact that Clark County is relatively small, and in spite of the fact that INDOT is already committed to a $265 million I-65 widening there. This project would bring the total investment in Clark County up to staggering $810 million -- greater than the estimated total amount of state funds available for the Indianapolis area between now and 2020.

The relative need for this project is questionable. Currently, at peak periods, the ORMIS consultants estimate that only 75% of the available capacity on the Kennedy bridge is in use. In other words, today the Kennedy Bridge is not even operating over capacity. Even with no improvements to cross river traffic at all (i.e., no new bridge), engineers have estimated that the Kennedy Bridge (a seven lane structure) will only be carrying approximately 130,000 cars per day in the year 2020 (Smith). That is actually less than today's traffic volumes on sections of I-465 (see Table 5). In contrast, by the year 2020, I-465 is projected to carry over 200,000 cars per day south of I-69 (Corradino).

In summary, INDOT wants to:

• Spend $545 million.
• In a county with 92,000 people in it.
• Where it is already planning a $265 million I-65 widening project.
• To build two bridges over a river Indiana does not even own (the Ohio River is owned almost entirely by Kentucky).
• To relieve congestion on a bridge that already has more lanes than I-465.
• Where the projected 2020 traffic volumes are less than today's traffic volumes on I-465.
• And there are no plans to widen I-465.

New SR 145 Alignment

The Directory of Proposed Highway projects lists a major new construction project on SR 145 from the existing four lane section of SR 37 in Mitchell to I-64 in Perry County at a cost of $140 million. This is scheduled to be completed by 2006. This road passes through the sparsely populated counties of Crawford, Orange, and Perry. Combined, these three counties had a 1995 population of 48,500 (IBRC Estimates).

Contrast this with Johnson County (population 101,700), the state's second fastest growing county, where the Indianapolis LRP shows the state spending only about $53 million in the urbanized portion of the county between now and 2020.[25] The Directory of Proposed Highway projects shows only $7 million in capacity expansion projects countywide between now and 2006.[26]

In Hendricks County (population 86,600), the state's third fastest growing county, the LRP shows only $18 million in spending in the urbanized portion of the county between now and 2020.[27] The Directory of Proposed Highway Projects shows about $32 million countywide through the year 2006.[28]

INDOT is proposing to spend more money in three very small rural counties with low population growth than it is in two of the three fastest growing counties in the state combined, either of which are larger than the combined population of the three rural counties.

Unquestionably INDOT has a responsibility to plan and develop transportation improvement projects in rural areas of the state as well as urban ones. It cannot simply devote all of its resources to large, high growth counties. However, in the case of rural Southern Indiana, INDOT is already proposing a massive new interstate highway (the Evansville to Bloomington I-69 extension), with an estimated cost of over $700 million (Draft Environmental Impact Statement).[29] To propose this additional $140 million road paralleling it seems excessive given the competing unfunded needs.

Borman Expressway Upgrades

The Borman Expressway (I-80/I-94) in Lake County is a six lane freeway which has what is arguably the most traffic congestion of any Indiana interstate. It is the only non-Indianapolis freeway in Indiana with traffic comparable to I-465, therefore it is useful to compare INDOT's handling of the two highways.

While INDOT has not commenced a major widening project on the Borman, it has begun taking steps to make widening possible. For example, it has implemented (and plans to implement) a series of interchange modifications and bridge replacements that provide for greater horizontal bridge clearances.[30] This will allow that road to be widened at a future date without the expense of replacing overhead bridges that do not have enough horizontal clearance to support additional lanes. In effect, this is advanced construction work for widening. INDOT is intelligently spending money now to make future work more feasible and less expensive.

On I-465, however, the state is taking the exact opposite approach. Rather than doing what it can now to make future widening cheaper (as is the case on the Borman), INDOT is actually spending millions of dollars to ensure that I-465 cannot be widened. For example, in perhaps the most short sighted project in state history, INDOT spent about a million dollars to rehabilitate the North River Road bridge over I-465 (IRTIP). The horizontal bridge clearance for the that bridge will not accommodate additional general purpose travel lanes on I-465.[31] Similarly, INDOT is planning additional rehabilitations, not replacements, of more bridges with narrow horizontal clearance, such as those carrying Rockville Rd., Airport Expressway, and west I-74 over I-465 (Directory of Proposed Highway Projects).

All of these newly rehabbed bridges will have to be demolished and replaced in order to widen I-465 with standard lane and shoulder widths. These projects keep the price of widening I-465 artificially high, reducing the likelihood that anything will ever be done to fix I-465. These actions would seem to indicate that INDOT has no plans to widen I-465 anytime soon, given that the life span of a fully rehabbed bridge is supposed to be about 20 years.

New I-469 Fort Wayne Bypass

In 1996, INDOT opened the final segment of the brand new 32 mile, four lane I-469 interstate bypass around the city of Fort Wayne.[32] In 1994, the busiest portion of this roadway carried a mere 15,090 cars per day (1994 Interstate Flow Map).[33] There are two lane streets in Indianapolis that carry more cars than that.[34] In contrast, the busiest section of I-465 carried 146,690 cars per day in 1994 (see Table 5). That is ten times the traffic on I-469. Fort Wayne certainly has road construction needs, but given how lightly traveled this bypass has been to date, I-469 would not appear to be one of them.

Also, despite the fact that INDOT just built a brand new interstate for Fort Wayne, it is still planning to spend slightly more per capita on future capacity expansion in the seven county Fort Wayne region than in the eight county Indianapolis region. According to the 1996 Directory of Proposed Highway Projects, this is $149 per capita for Fort Wayne and $143 per capita for Indianapolis. (See Appendix A).

New Bloomington to Evansville I-69 Extension

Perhaps no road project in Indiana has received more attention than the proposed Indianapolis to Evansville I-69 extension. INDOT has decided to first proceed to with development of the new terrain segment between Bloomington and Evansville and to ignore upgrading of heavily traveled SR 37 between Bloomington and Indianapolis for the time being.[35]

This project has been the subject of much criticism by environmental groups and various Southern Indiana citizens who are opposed to the project for a variety of reasons. However, even assuming that every I-69 criticism ever leveled is invalid and that the Draft Environment Impact Statement (dEIS) for the highway is 100% correct, this highway still should not be constructed based on relative benefit/cost alone. According to the dEIS, benefit/cost ratio for the proposed Evansville to Bloomington segment (which will cost over $700 million) is $1.54. That is, for every dollar invested in the highway, the state can expect to receive $1.54 back in benefits.

A payback of 54% seems attractive until compared to alternative ways to spend $700 million. In the Indianapolis area, improvements to I-69 and SR 37 in the northeast corridor are estimated to cost $575 million (McFeely, "I-69"). The benefit/cost ratio of that project (according to Corradino Group interim study results) is $7.11 -- a net payback of 611%! This dwarfs the benefit/cost ratio for the southwest I-69 extension. Yet despite this astronomically high payback, INDOT says it will probably be 10 years before anything happens (McFeely, "I- 69"). Also, according to the Indianapolis LRP, there is not enough money to pay for the full recommended northeast I-69 improvements anytime before 2020.

There are people who claim that Southern Indiana is short changed by the state and therefore needs I-69 to make up for a deficiency in funding. However, even without an I-69 extension, rural Southern Indiana and the cities of Evansville and Bloomington are near the top in proposed future spending on capacity expansion. Indeed, they represent three of the top four regions for proposed spending.[36] All are already scheduled to receive more that twice as much as Indianapolis on a per capita basis between now and 2006 (see Appendix A). Again, this is without the proposed I-69 extension.

Other Large Projects

The following table summarizes all capacity expansion projects listed in the Directory of Proposed Highway Projects costing over $25 million. For the purposes of analysis, related subprojects have been grouped together. Not one single project is for the Indianapolis area, despite the fact that together these projects represent over $1.2 billion in state highway spending.

The Louisville, Kentucky metro area is smaller than Indianapolis. Its population is just less than one million, while the population of the Indianapolis metro area is over 1.4 million (IBRC Estimates). In other words, the Indianapolis area is 40% larger than the Louisville area. However, this would be difficult to tell from examining each city's interstate highways.

In Louisville, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has implemented an impressive series of road improvements. For example, 11 miles of the notoriously narrow and dangerous Watterson Expressway (I-264) have been widened to a minimum of eight lanes between Taylor Bvld. and Shelbyville Rd. Additionally, along this section of highway, all interchanges were completely redesigned and reconstructed for far smoother traffic flow. It also features continuous expressway lighting throughout its length, a safety feature essentially non-existent (except at interchanges) on heavily traveled I-465.[39]

South of I-264, I-65 has also undergone a dramatic transformation. It is now up to twelve lanes wide, and is a minimum of six lanes all the way to Elizabethtown. This is an astounding 45 miles south of downtown. Again it features completely new interchanges and continuous expressway lighting within urbanized sections.[40]

There are still some portions of interior expressways that are as narrow as two lanes in each direction in Louisville. However, in the Louisville area transportation plan, all of these have funding identified for widening between now and 2020 (KIPDA, various pages). As mentioned earlier, INDOT is also planning a $265 million I-65 widening in the Louisville area and there is a proposal (currently unfunded) to build $545 million worth of new bridges across the Ohio River.

Again, in Indianapolis there are virtually no freeway improvements planned that have identified funding. This will put the city at an increasing competitive disadvantage as other states continue to improve their cities’ roads while Indiana does not.

VI. INDOT INVESTMENT IN INDIANAPOLIS

While INDOT is spending substantially less money in Indianapolis than in the rest of the state, it is proposing a number of projects there. In the interest of completeness, and to show that INDOT is implementing some projects in Indianapolis, these are listed in the following subsections.

Capacity Expansion Projects

There are several Indianapolis projects that are not projected to cost over $25 million (and thus were not included in Table 6 above), but do represent substantial investments on the part of INDOT. In the aggregate, these projects add up to a large sum of money. However, as stated earlier, on a per capita basis this still only totals 57% of the statewide average. The following list contains all proposed Indianapolis area projects with a cost of over $10 million dollars between now and 2006 according to the Directory of Proposed Highway Projects:[41]

• New interchange at I-70 and Six Points Rd ($21 million).
• Added travel lanes on East Washington St. ($20 million).
• Added travel lanes on West Washington St. ($20 million).
• Added travel lanes on Pendleton Pike ($17 million).
• Interchange Modification on I-465 at East 56th St. and Shadeland Ave. ($15 million).
• Added travel lanes on Michigan Rd. ($14 million).
• Interchange Modification at I-70 and Post Rd. ($14 million).

Major Investment/Corridor Studies

Any analysis of proposed INDOT expenditures in Indianapolis would not be complete without mentioning the I-69/SR 37 and US 31 corridor studies. These multi-year studies examined the needs for transportation improvements in the I-69/SR 37 northeast corridor and the US 31 north corridor. These studies represent an important step towards the realization of transportation improvements in those corridors because this type of study is typically required by the federal government as the first step of any large project. However, it must be stressed that the recommendations in these studies do not represent a commitment on the part of any federal, state, or local agency to fund them. Unlike the Indianapolis LRP, these studies are not financially constrained. There is no requirement that the recommendations be realistically fundable.

The US 31 study recommended a widening of US 31 to a minimum of eight lanes along with access control improvement to change the functional classification of the road to an urban freeway. It also recommended additional lanes on north Keystone Ave. The estimated cost of these improvements is $348 million (McFeeley, “US 31”). As stated earlier, however, the Indianapolis LRP shows only very limited money available for US 31 and Keystone Ave. between now and 2020 – far less than is needed to complete these improvements. There is $47 million allocated for Keystone Ave. (which is estimated to be enough to fully fund the recommended improvements), but only $36 million for US 31 (LRP, Appendix C).

The I-69/SR 37 study had even greater recommended improvements, including additional travel lanes on I-69 and SR 37, and upgrading SR 37 to a freeway. The estimated cost of these improvements along the preferred alignment is about $575 million (McFeely, “I-69”). The Indianapolis LRP estimates that there will be approximately $305 million available through 2020 for improvements on these roads (LRP, Appendix C). This leaves a funding deficit of $270 million.

Portions of I-465 were included in the corridor studies mentioned above, however, there are currently no studies underway specifically dealing with improvements to the mainline of I- 465. Regardless, the Indianapolis LRP shows that there is no money available through 2020 to improve any section of I-465.

Maintenance Expenditures

The focus of this paper has been capacity expansion projects. However, also important are maintenance projects. A deficit in proposed capacity expansion spending might be offset by a surplus in proposed maintenance expenditures, depending on what stage of the lifecycle of a highway a region's roads are in. However, for Indianapolis, the Directory of Proposed Highway Projects shows that the Indianapolis region is only scheduled to receive approximately the statewide average in maintenance expenditures.[42] Indianapolis is not disproportionately benefiting from maintenance spending. In any case, all roads in the state equally require maintenance.[43] It is capacity expansion projects which represent discretionary spending on the part of INDOT.

VII. CONCLUSION

This paper has shown that INDOT is systematically underfunding the Indianapolis region, contrary to the commonly believed myth that Indianapolis receives a disproportionate share of state resources. This is in spite of the fact that Indianapolis is the state’s largest and fastest growing region.

Any statement that there are insufficient funds to implement major Indianapolis road improvement projects is simply not accurate. INDOT has the money to implement major projects, it has simply chosen not to spend that money in Indianapolis, selecting to implement major outstate projects instead. The lack of money therefore does not come as a result of an actual shortage of funds, but rather as a result of a conscious decision to spend available money elsewhere.

APPENDIX A - PROPOSED EXPANSION SPENDING BY REGION

The table below shows proposed per capita expenditures on capacity increasing projects for every region in Indiana. It is based on an analysis of all non-demonstration expansion projects listed in the 1996 Directory of Proposed Highway Projects and is taken from the study A Regional Analysis of Proposed INDOT Expansion Projects (Renn, 1997).

This table shows that much of what is commonly believed about state spending is completely backwards. Many regions which often complain about being ignored by the rest of the state and shortchanged by a pro-Indianapolis state bureaucracy (such as New Albany/Jeffersonville, Evansville, and Northwest Indiana) are in reality the top beneficiaries of state spending. Indianapolis, which supposedly is able to get whatever it wants from the state, is far down the list.

Table 7: Proposed Regional Per Capita Expenditures on Highway Expansion Projects (Based on 1995 Estimated Population)
Source: INDOT 1996 Directory of Proposed Highway Projects

Contact the author at arenn@urbanophile.com for more information about the study which produced these numbers.

ENDNOTES

[1] As quoted in the Nov. 27-Dec. 4 Hendricks County Flyer.

[2] The editorial failed to cite even one example of uneven spending. However, as Appendix A will show, the people of South Bend are in fact faring even worse than Indianapolis when it comes to receiving their fair share of highway expansion spending.

[3] This is the Indianapolis metropolitan statistical area as defined by the US Census Bureau excluding Madison County (Anderson). Even with Madison County included, Indianapolis is still the state’s fastest growing region.

[4] In this case the term region refers to the regions defined in Renn, 1997.

[5] Defined in the document as capacity expansion projects costing in excess of $10 million.

[6] Excluding so called "demonstration projects." These are projects that are not planned for construction using regularly budgeted funds, but instead depend on special appropriations from Congress or the Indiana General Assembly. An example of this type of project is the I-69 segment from Bloomington to Evansville. Excluding these demonstration projects does not distort the accuracy of the the figures because there were no proposed demonstration projects in the Indianapolis region listed in the source cited.

[7] Note that the Directory of Proposed Highway Projects does not list all projects to be constructed through 2006. It only fully programs projects through about 1999. Additional projects can be added between 2000 and 2006.

[8] The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, or ISTEA (pronounced, “ice-tea”). This is the law that governs federal spending on highway projects.

[9] Appendix A of the Indianapolis LRP shows INDOT as a participating agency in the organizational chart. It shows INDOT Deputy Commissioner Katherine R. Lyon-Davis as a member of the Indianapolis Regional Transportation Council (IRTC) Policy Committee (which generally has one member from each participating agency). It shows INDOT Planner Dan Buck, Program Manager Larry Buckel, and Technical Engineer Bruno Canzian, and Rich Emery as members of the Indianapolis Regional Transportation Technical Coordinating Committee. INDOT has more representatives than any other agency on the technical committee. Finally, Appendix A shows Steve Smith of INDOT as a member of the Study Review Team.

[10] This figure is derived from various sources. The actual US 31 corridor study results were not available for analysis. However, information from the final report was provided in an Indianapolis Star article (McFeeley) which showed the cost of the improvements would be $347.5 million. However, this included widening of Keystone Ave. (SR 431) as well as the upgrade to US 31. The Indianapolis LRP estimated the cost of the Keystone Ave. widening at $47 million dollars (LRP, Appendix C). This value was subtracted from the total project cost in order to arrive at the $300 million estimate.

[11] The scope of the LRP ends at 146th St., so it is rational to assume that some funding is available to widen SR 37 north of that point. However, given that there is no money for widening to a freeway south of 146th, it is unlikely that a freeway upgrade is budgeted north of 146th.

[12] Appendix C shows $19 million in funding for an I-70/Six Points Rd interchange. This compares to an estimated total cost for the full interchange improvements of $62 million (Six Points Information Packet) This $19 million is listed in a table of committed project, but no funding source was specified. The Indianapolis Transportation Improvement Program (IRTIP), a short range document listing all projects requesting federal funds over a three year period, shows the interchange as a demonstration project (see footnote 6). The actual funding seems to be up in the air. According to a recent Indianapolis Business Journal article (King), a multi-agency partnership is requesting $23 million in federal funds for the interchange, but approval is not certain. Indianapolis city official Larry Gigerich is quoted as saying that only about 60% of the interchange cost will be paid for by state and federal sources. Local government may have to pay for 40% of this new interchange, which, because it is on an interstate highway, would normally be 100% the state’s responsibility. The LRP shows $19 million in available funding for improving Six Points Rd in the vicinity of the interchange from Kentucky Ave. (SR 67) to Washington St. (US 40). This is actually more than the estimated $15 million cost of that improvement according to the latest study results (Six Points Information Packet).

[13] This value includes both state ($644 million) and local ($242 million) funds. These were combined in order to have a common basis of comparison with the New Albany/Jeffersonville area. See below.

[14] The Indianapolis metropolitan planning area is different from the eight county area described above. The metropolitan planning area consist of all of Marion County, plus portions of adjacent counties that are either urbanized, or projected to be urbanized by the year 2020. This region accounts for the bulk of the people in the eight county area.

[15] The actual amount listed as availabile is $557,316,614. This appeared to have included in it various funding categories other than road improvements. The total amount was adjusted by the percentage shown to be available for "Roads" in the funding pie chart on page 53 of the KIPDA LRP to arrive at a value that was believed to be most comparable with the Indianapolis LRP. This excluded the road maintenance category since funding for that was already itemized separately. It should be noted however, that since both the Louisville/KIPDA and Indianapolis LRP overviews do not discuss the methodologies used to generate their funding estimates, it is possible that these numbers may not be directly comparable. In particular, the KIPDA plan does not appear distinguish local vs. state funds. The Indianapolis value was adjusted to reflect the sum of projected available state and local dollars to provide a basis of comparison.

[16] One INDOT document (Transportation in Indiana) shows the cost of this project at $265 million. An aggregation of all related subprojects in a different source (Directory of Proposed Highway Projects) only totals $247 million. The higher figure was used because it was a direct INDOT quote, whereas the lower value was derived.

[17] AADT is Annual Average Daily Traffic Volume

[18] INDOT produces an interstate traffic volume map every two years. The 1996 figures were unavailable for comparison when this paper was written. They should be released some time in 1997.

[19] An example is Pendleton Pike, which in 1992 (the year of the most recent available traffic count) carried an estimated 57,750 cars per day between I-465 and 42nd St. (INDOT County Flow Maps, 49).

[20] INDOT even admits as much. See McFeely, "I-69".

[21] As an example of how INDOT claims it is an ITS leader, see its 1997 road construction season press release (removed dead link - AMR 4/02). For examples of other state's ITS efforts, see the Arizona Dept. of Transportation's real time traffic photos (dead link - AMR 4/02). and the Illinois Dept. of Transportation's Chicago area congestion map on the Internet. INDOT is nominally a member of the group responsible for the Chicago traffic map, but to date, all information is from the state of Illinois.

[22] The five areas are Freeway Management Centers, Advanced Public Transportation Systems, Centralized Traffic Signal Control, Incident Management Programs, and Electronic Toll Collection Systems. Obviously, since there are no toll roads in Indianapolis, that area does not apply. See the Intelligent Transportation Systems Deployment Home Page on the Internet for more details.

[23] This quote is from a clipped Indianapolis Star article for which, unfortunately, I did not record the date and page number. Please contact the author at arenn@urbanophile.com for any questions regarding this quote.

[24] INDOT is studying improvements to selected I-465 interchanges such as East 56th St./Shadeland Ave and East I-70. These show some improvements, but no major mainline widening. Blueprints for the East 56th St. project proposal show that the new design will accommodate only one additional through lane in each direction on I-465. (Most of the new lanes on I-465 that are proposed as part of this improvement are actually ramp and collector/distributor lanes that do not increase through traffic carrying capacity). Also, the portion of I-465 between I-69 and Keystone Ave. was included in the I-69/SR-37 corridor study. So some progress is being made, but the entire west leg of I-465 and most of the northeast quandrant mainline is not even being studied.

[25] The 2020 urbanized portion includes only part of northern Johnson County (LRP, Map 1).

[26] This includes a $4 million (one half) share of the proposed I-65/County Line Rd. interchange.

[27] The 2020 urbanized portion includes only part of eastern Hendricks County (LRP, Map 1).

[28] This includes a $9.5 million (one half) share of the proposed I-70/Six Points Rd. interchange.

[29] The southwest I-69 extension, like the I-465 widening, is unfunded. However, this is another highway that has support in the highest levels of state government, including the governor. This highway is also designated a Congressional High Priority Corridor. Neither of these things is true of any Indianapolis project. It should be noted that in a later section the proposed I-69 extension is shown to be pretty dubious in its own right.

[30] Several of these are listed in the Directory of Proposed Highway Projects.

[31] It should be noted that this assertion is based on personal observation, not an INDOT engineering document.

[32] Unfortunately, I do have the construction cost of this highway. However, including environmental studies, roadway design, land acquisition, and actual construction, the cost was surely extremely high.

[33] Note that this is before the final segment of the roadway opened. Unfortunately, this was the most recent year for which traffic data was available.

[34] For example, sections of Michigan Rd., Westlane Rd., and Kessler Bvld. (DMD Unadjusted Traffic Counts, 1994).

[35] INDOT has upgraded some at grade intersections on SR 37 near Bloomington to full grade separated interchanges.

[36] The top region is Louisville, also in Southern Indiana. The fifth place region is Terre Haute, arguably a Southern Indiana city as well. This gives Southern Indiana a clean sweep of the top five positions, a far cry from the neglect that is often talked about by their local politicians.

[37] Regions are defined in Renn, 1997.

[38] There is a possibility that this project refers to the proposed new Ohio River bridge.

[39] Not only is the quantity of expressway lighting greater in Louisville than in Indianapolis, so is the quality. In Louisville, as in most cities (additional examples are Atlanta and Chicago), expressway lighting is composed mostly of individually mounted light poles. In Indianapolis, INDOT uses huge lighting towers that resemble nothing more than a forest of cellular telephone antennas. Also, when there is continuous expressway lighting on Indianapolis expressways (for example, on the west leg of I-70), the poles are mounted on the right shoulders. The creates a visually jarring effect, because in order to keep the light bulbs aligned, different types of mast arms have to be used to account for the uneven roadway on the right side (for example, the shoulder narrows when going over a bridge). This makes the lighting look like it was put together from whatever spare parts happened to be lying around INDOT’s warehouse. Also, this type of mounting is very dangerous because cars running off the road can easily strike a light pole. Both of these problems can be solved by mounting the light standard on the concrete barrier wall in the roadway median. This prevents cars from striking the poles, and allows for a uniform pole style. This is what was done in Louisville and numerous other cities. My personal impression is also that newer lighting in Indianapolis has poles spaced further apart than most other places. On the west leg of I-70, the new lights installed during reconstruction even appear to be spaced further apart than those in place prior to reconstruction.

[40] Statements about the Louisville highway system are based on personal field observations.

[41] I have attended public meetings which indicate that the actual cost of some of these projects may be higher than listed in the Directory. However, for consistency with figures quoted for outstate projects, these are being shown at the cost listed in the Directory. To do otherwise would assume than the engineers planning Indianapolis projects are incompetent and always underestimate the cost of projects, while those planning projects for the rest of the state always hit the target. A more likely explanation is that many projects throughout the state rise in cost during plan development. Using the costs listed in the Directory provides a methodologically sound basis of comparison between projects and regions. Additonally, this mis-estimation can cut both ways. I have received information that the East Washington St. improvement project has been cancelled because of cost concerns.

[42] This is $284 per person in Indianapolis versus $283 per person statewide. This is based on 1995 population from the IBRC. The Indianapolis region refers to the eight county area described above.

[43] In other words, an assertion that a large amount of maintenance expenditures is evidence that INDOT is spending a lot of money in area implies that INDOT is not maintaining roads elsewhere in the state.

REFERENCES

Arizona Department of Transportation. "ADOT Trailmaster Cameras". (dead link removed - AMR 4/02).

Bernadine, Lochmueller, and Associates. Evansville to Bloomington Highway Draft Environmental Impact Statement, 1996.

City of Indianapolis (Department of Metropolitan Development, Planning Division). Indianapolis Regional Transportation Plan: An Overview (Draft-2) (LRP). April 1995.

City of Indianapolis (Department of Metropolitan Development, Planning Division). 1996- 1998 Indianapolis Regional Transportation Improvement Program (IRTIP), May 15, 1996.

City of Indianapolis (Department of Metropolitan Development, Planning Division). Official Thoroughfare Plan Unadjusted 24 Hour Traffic Counts, June 1994.

The Corradino Group. Evaluation of Alternatives: I-69/SR 37 Corridor Study. March, 1996.

Crawford, Dan. "Route 315 funding hits pothole." Business First of Columbus. June 17, 1996.

Dinnen, S. P. "Plans made to improve interstate traffic low." The Indianapolis Star, Sept. 19, 1996.

Illinois Department of Transportation. "Chicagoland Expressway Congestion Map". http://www.ai.eecs.uic.edu/GCM/chicagoland.html

Indiana Department of Transportation (Division of Roadway Management, Traffic Statistics Section). 1990 Interstate Annual Average Daily Traffic Volumes, 1990.

Indiana Department of Transportation (Division of Roadway Management). 1992 Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) County Flow Maps, 1992.

Indiana Department of Transportation (Division of Roadway Management, Traffic Statistics Section). 1994 Interstate Annual Average Daily Traffic Volumes, 1994.

Indiana Department of Transportation (Division of Intermodal Transportation, Transportation Programming Section). 1996 Directory of Proposed Highway Projects, 1996.

Indiana Department of Transportation. "Lt. Governor Announces 1997 Construction Season". (dead link removed - 4/02 AMR) March 31, 1997.

Indiana Department of Transportation. Proposed North-South Corridor/Proposed Six Points Road Interchange and Improvements to Six Points Road Public Hearing Information Packet, March 19, 1996.

Indiana Department of Transportation. Transportation in Indiana: Multimodal Plan Development for the 1990's and Beyond, 1995.

Indiana Business Research Center (Indiana University School of Business). 1995 Indiana County Estimates. http://www.iupui.edu/it/ibrc/Population/county95.html and http://www.iupui.edu/it/ibrc/Population/95cnty.html.

Intelligent Transportation Systems Deployment Home Page. http://itsdeployment.ed.ornl.gov [Note: Link location updated on 12/17/97. AMR]

Intelligent Transportation Systems Deployment Summary Tables. (dead link removed - AMR 4/02).

Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency (KIPDA), Transportation Planning Division. Horizon 2020: Regional Mobility Plan, October 1996.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. "Louisville Bridge Update." (dead link removed - AMR 4/02).

King, Mason. "Proposed interchange awaits final funding." Indianapolis Business Journal, October 18-November 3, 1996, 17A.

McFeely, Dan. "Engineers decide on revamped US 31." The Indianapolis Star, July 10, 1996.

McFeely, Dan. "Officials consider ways to ease I-69 woes." The Indianapolis Star, November 20, 1996.

Merk, Karen. "Consultant: Build two Jefferson bridges." The Courier-Journal, November 19, 1996. A1, A5.

Renn, Aaron M. A Regional Analysis of Proposed INDOT Highway Expansion Projects, 1997.

Walfoort, Nina. "Bridge study: only downtown span will ease jam." The Courier-Journal, July 23, 1996, A1.

Walfoort, Nina. "Study No. 16 puts bridge in limbo even longer." The Courier-Journal, November 19, 1994.

Wessel, Kim. "Residents offer ideas on where to put bridge." The Courier-Journal, July 23, 1996.