By ANNIE GOELLER, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Three state legislators, including one from Johnson County, decided a couple of weeks ago that a proposed central Indiana toll road shouldn't be approved this legislative session and studies should come first.
Sen. Robert Jackman, a Republican from Milroy, took that message to the governor about a week ago.
That, combined with an overwhelming show of opposition at a hearing on the toll road last week and other meetings with legislators, was the turning points in convincing Gov. Mitch Daniels to withdraw his proposal to have legislators approve two toll roads and lease them to private companies, legislators said.
In his announcement Saturday, Daniels suggested legislators look at further studying the two projects, called the Indiana Commerce Connector and the Illiana Expressway, but said the projects didn't have enough public support to move forward.
"After legislative action to date, some 40 public meetings, and lots of other open debate, it is clear to me that we are far from the degree of consensus that is necessary before embarking on major public works projects of high local impact," Daniels wrote in a letter to legislators.
The announcement came just days after a public meeting on the project in Shelbyville that drew more than 1,500 people who were mostly opposed to the central Indiana toll road.
A meeting scheduled for tonight in Franklin has been canceled.
The toll road would have passed near both communities in a 75-mile path through six counties from the Pendleton area to just west of the Indianapolis International Airport.
What happened
Local lawmakers, many who received phone calls from the governor's staff before the announcement, said they believed Daniels was listening to the feedback from people who spoke out against the project, including legislators.
The governor made his decision based on feedback collected at public meetings and conversations with department of transportation and state officials, said Jane Jankowski, the governor's press secretary.
During the past two weeks, the governor met with state senators and representatives who urged him to slow down and spend more time on studies, local legislators said.
In a meeting between Sen. Greg Walker and two other key lawmakers, Senate President Pro Tem David Long and Jackman, the three discussed talking to the governor about the project.
They believed the projects should slow down and more studies should be done before approval, Walker said.
Jackman met with the governor about a week ago and was apparently effective in communicating their message, Walker said.
Jackman talked to the governor about public feedback, which had been mainly against the project, and said he needed to rethink the issue. When he left the meeting, he didn't know what the governor would do, but appreciated being able to talk with him, Jackman said.
Other lawmakers said they had similar meetings with the governor over the past few weeks, including Rep. Woody Burton and Milo Smith.
Both said they talked about the lack of public support for the project. Burton suggested the state do more studies and talk more with opponents of the project before seeking legislative approval, he said.
After the bill was approved by more than a majority in the Republican-controlled Senate, many wondered if it would receive the same treatment in the House, which has a Democratic majority, said Sen. Brent Waltz, R-Greenwood.And the number of people speaking out against the project has continually grown, Smith said.
A public meeting in Shelbyville last week that drew more than 1,500 people also likely prompted the governor's announcement, Smith said.
"The governor saw the handwriting on the wall. He knew it would be difficult for us to vote for it with all the 'no's' in the community," said Smith, a Republican who represents part of Johnson County where the road could have been built.
Daniels said from the start that he would listen to the people in the areas affected by the projects, Jankowski said.
His announcement comes only a few days after state officials were trying to draw supporters to public meetings about the project. As late as Wednesday, a public relations firm was asking supporters to attend the public meeting in Franklin and voice their support for the project.
What's next
What will happen next with the legislation isn't yet known. Daniels suggested further study of the projects.
"Either of these ideas might benefit from further research, and I would welcome some form of that if your committees are so inclined. But the people of the affected areas have spoken clearly enough to persuade me that these ideas are, at best, premature," Daniels wrote in his letter.
One sticking point between supporters and opponents of the bill was in what the proposed legislation would allow. Supporters said the legislation was just a permission slip for a study to see if the marketplace was interested in leasing the roads and what kind of return Indiana could get. The governor insisted studies would have to show that the roads were feasible and would be used.But the legislation would have given the governor authority to build and lease the roads without ever coming back for legislative approval.
Now, the governor says he welcomes further study without legislative approval.
Lawmakers said they didn't believe the proposal to approve the roads would likely be brought up again during this legislative session, but forming a committee to study them is a possibility.
Jankowski said she couldn't predict what the legislature would do.
Legislators won't be for the proposal without the support of the governor, Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, said.
Though the proposal likely won't come back this session, it likely will be brought up again in a future session, Waltz said.
A study committee could still go forward to study a full outer loop around Interstate 465, Burton said.
Austin said her committee would discuss what will happen with the bill. The proposal, authored by Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, called for the construction of both the central Indiana and northwest Indiana roads.
The committee could decide to form a legislative study committee to look at both projects, she said. Terri Austin, chairwoman of the House Roads and Transportation Committee, said she would be talking to the governor's office in the coming days.
The committee that was hearing testimony on the bill could vote against the proposal based on Daniels' announcement. Another option is not calling the bill for a vote and allowing it to die at the end of the session, Austin said.
"I think the thing to do is just let it go to sleep at this point," she said.
Daniels announced the proposed central Indiana toll road in November with support from local officials, including Johnson County Commissioner R.J. McConnell. Franklin Mayor Brenda Jones-Matthews said she supported the project shortly after, but had some questions.
What about I-69?
Both Daniels and the state senator who proposed the bill said that money from leasing the toll road to a private company would pay for construction of the Interstate 69 extension north from Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center to Indianapolis. That portion of the I-69 project, which links Indianapolis and Evansville, wasn't funded with money from the northern Indiana toll road lease last year.
Daniels proposed the roads in November, coupled with an announcement that I-69 would be toll-free.
About 10 days before his announcement Saturday, Daniels indicated that the toll roads may need to be delayed because of a lack of public support. He also said the state would need to take the next six or seven years and find another way to pay for the rest of I-69.
But when the governor announced his proposal in November, a handout from his office said that moving the tolling authority from I-69 to the central Indiana beltway is "the only plan to build a toll-free I-69 from Evansville to Indianapolis in the next three decades, without a tax increase."
And Wyss, who introduced the bill that proposes the toll road, has said the route is the only way to pay for I-69.
A past news release from Sen. Wyss' office quoted him as saying "Without the Commerce Connector, it would be impossible to complete I-69."
Sunday, Wyss said: "I-69 cannot be completed without a significant tax increase to all citizens of Indiana," Wyss said.
And legislators don't have the willpower to raise that sort of tax, he said.
The governor has said the state will need to find another way to pay for I-69, Jankowski said.
That could mean reviving the idea of collecting tolls on parts of I-69, supporters of the project said.
Current law, passed last year, allows the state to collect tolls on I-69 between Evansville and Martinsville, Young said.