Indiana task force driving toward long-term road funding solution

Despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, officials with the Indiana Department of Transportation presented data showing Indiana’s bridges and roads are in relatively good shape, especially compared with neighboring states.

Just 4.6 percent of Indiana’s bridges are rated “structurally deficient,” meaning a major repair to a bridge’s deck, superstructure, substructure or culvert is promptly needed, but the bridge is still functional.

That’s lower than the national average (6 percent), as well as the percentage of structurally deficient bridges in Illinois (8 percent), Michigan (6 percent) and Kentucky (6.5 percent).

For pavement roughness, 11 percent of Indiana roads were rated poor, slightly above Illinois’ and the national average of 10 percent, but lower than Michigan (15 percent) and Ohio (12 percent).

INDOT’s goal is to have 98 percent of bridges and 95 percent of pavement rated fair or better by 2036, which will cost about $800 million a year to achieve, according to agency officials.

The state will spend nearly that much on road and bridge preservation over the next 12 months, thanks to a short-term road funding package using mostly surplus funds that was enacted in March by the General Assembly and Gov. Mike Pence.

Going forward, the Legislature must find about $250 million more each year to keep up that level of spending, or decide to accept roads and bridges of declining quality.

The General Assembly’s budget leaders — state Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville; and state Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville — said they expect the task force will evaluate a variety of dedicated road funding possibilities at future meetings.

They’ll then work to insert the first stage of a consensus plan into the two-year state budget lawmakers will adopt next year.