By ANNIE GOELLER, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
A proposed central Indiana toll road won't be studied this year; and if the proposal comes back, residents likely won't get any more answers.
But legislators and the governor said they don't think the proposed Indiana Commerce Connector will make a return.
Gov. Mitch Daniels withdrew his proposal for the highway Saturday, along with a proposed toll road in northwest Indiana.
On Monday, he said he won't revisit the topic. And the senator who authored the bill said he won't make the proposal again, either.
Lawmakers and state officials can now spend time on other issues, such as mass transit, legislators said.
Daniels had suggested that legislators still study the two roads.
The Indiana Department of Transportation won't do studies unless legislators ask.
"There's lots of other work that needs to be done, so we'll move on to that now," said Gary Abell, spokesman for the department.
House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, said the Democrats won't make that request.
Bauer isn't asking for any studies on the two roads and instead wants legislators to look at studying public transportation, such as rail systems, in the area where the central Indiana toll road was proposed.
A study of the beltway isn't necessary because one was already done that showed it wasn't needed, Bauer said.
He is referring to the Central Indiana Suburban Transportation and Mobility Study, which said an outer beltway around Indianapolis would not significantly relieve traffic nor create added economic development areas.
If there is a traffic study that hasn't been done, that is something that should be looked at in the future, he said.
But since no one has studied mass transportation, that is a study that should be done now, Bauer said.
A House committee set to discuss the bill that proposed both the central Indiana beltway and the toll road in northwest Indiana will focus on two bills proposed to study mass transit, said John Schorg, spokesman for the House Democrats. Committee chairwoman Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, was not available Tuesday or Wednesday.
"The governor has spoken, and we will respond to his wishes," Schorg said.
Senate Bill 105 calls for a feasibility study of building a commuter rail system between Muncie and Indianapolis. The bill that Austin wants to focus on, Schorg said, is House Bill 1659, which the Anderson representative authored.
That legislation requires INDOT to conduct six mass transit studies in different regions of the state. The studies must be completed by July 2008 and cannot cost more than $250,000, according to the bill.
The bill also creates a committee of House and Senate members, from committees that handle transportation issues, to study mass transportation and alternative transportation.
"If people are concerned about transportation, why not look at mass transit?" Schorg asked.
Both bills have made it to the halfway point of the session and have been assigned to the committees that handle transportation issues.