I found this to be interesting news, although 75 years is a long time and for it to be controlled by a foreign country does not set well with me

Heres the link for the rest of the article.

http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dl...ON01/602030305

 

Who knows if we will still need roads in 75 years. In my opinion it should be a shorter time and it should be an American company. If we ever get I-69 to run from indy to evansville he is wanting to make that a toll road also.
Think that is interesting read this.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/6714054/detail.html

 

I agree with Chris. Shorter time frame and an American company! I don't want the road I'm driving on controlled by a foreign country!

 

also part of the lease is that the state of indiana cannot improve on rt 31 and many other highway projects for 10 years and also for the term of the lease cannot construct any competing roadway.
so looks like 130,000 jobs created where?
are they going to put a toll ever 1/2 mile?
no construction jobs created here from what ive seen and read on this "deal".
this is just another scam pulled of you southerners eyes yet again just like the mitch daniels scam with the RDA.

provide the necessary funding for local road projects in all 92 counties of the state?"
sorry but too bad now all your property taxes will go up now less funding for schools and the toll road revenue was used for schools and to lower property tax for the entire state

 

To me this whole deal is just not right, I travel up that way every now and then, and more money is needed to go to the state routes for improve meants, and if they jack the toll rates the truckers will go back to the state routes .

 

Good thing us dumb southerns have got someone as superior and high and mighty as the northerners to look out for us. Just like former Indianapolis state house politicians Kernan and O'Banon, who managed to turn a 1 billion dollar state surplus they inherited into a 2 billion dollar deficit.

Political kidding aside, yes, I would prefer an American company run the toll road(s) but it's not a deal killer. In the 1980s when Japanese businessmen were stupidly (for PR reasons) buying American icons like the Empire State building, everyone was in a panic. But the fact was, as far as foreign investors go, they were a distant third behind Germany (#2) and Britain whom we never heard about. Remember Wal-Mart's "we buy American" ads? They became "we buy American when we can"ads and now, walk into any Wal-Mart and it seems to be "we mostly buy stuff made in China". That hasn't stopped people shopping there.

Nor is I-69 from Evansville to Indy being a toll road a problem for me. The toll should help pay for construction. My biggest problem is 75 years! It shouldn't take that long to pay for anything. Plus, no one group should control any public thing 75 years! At least with political administrations you have a chance to vote them out. Mitch Daniels pointed to the toll road "up north" as having been in existence for 50 years as a great example for the I-69 project. I have a problem with paying for something for even 50 years. My mortgage is only 20! The twin bridges over the Ohio between Evansville and Henderson, KY were originally toll. They haven't been toll for decades now and are kept up fine. Meanwhile a bridge near New Harmony and Southern Illinois over theWabash has always been toll and is possibly going to be closed because the toll isn't enough to keep it in good repair. Also, there are highways aplenty in our fair state that are not, nor have ever been, toll roads. I remember as a kid looking at a road map wondering why 3 of the 4 corners of state had a major highway to Indy, but Evansville didn't.

No one knows in what shape the state will be in 75 years, let alone the company that operates the toll. Back about 20-25 years ago, Vanderburgh County passed a wheel tax with a sunset clause to make it expire in (I think it was) seven years. Guess what? We still have it...through both Democrat and Republican administrations.

Oh and, FWIW, being north of the Ohio River, I don't consider myself a southerner. "Not that there's anything wrong with that"

 

I would prefer not to have I-69 a toll road. I drive what will become I-69 daily and I already spend $200 a month in gas just to go back and forth to work don't know how much more I would be able to take. However being a toll road just long enough to pay for itself I could live with after all nothing is free.

 

mach1fan i think you misunderstood when i said southerners.
first off my father is from bicknell, but the point here is that the toll road isnt something that just should be rented,leased, or sold without actual studys on the impact it would make on the area as a whole.

on a side not after going to an RDA meeting in laporte county i see one thing is for sure. they seem to look at the toll road for all of their answers for going intermobile in the lake porter and laporte counties.
the rda chairman is mitch daniels little buddy. so do you see the twist here.
also the chairman makes the sole decision on weather or not a project gets money or not(not the panel like as stated publically).

the point here is i see nothing here but daniels making more money for some out of state and country corporation and not for the residents of this state as a whole.

 

Looks like it got approved. Last I heard they are also going to make the new I 69 from martinsville to evansville a toll road also. But now it won't go through Bloomington. That really sucks.

 

If they build this road it won't affect me in the least. The fastest way to indy will still be the same.

 

Not " My Man Mitch" !!!

 

I say, "My Man Mitch!"

I'm all for the Major Moves deal. In a sense, it's privatization. $3.85 billion, when you include the time-value of money is probably a whole heck of a lot more than the state would have made off that toll road in 75 years. But, it's not just about potential interest on that chunk of money. It's about being able to INVEST that money in the state NOW. It has wiped out a budget shortfall, infusing money into much-needed road construction projects (which means, in many cases, more jobs for Hoosiers in construction), and long-term, it's a boost to the infrastructure that enhances commerce. More commerce means more tax revenue without raising the tax rates.

I think toll roads aren't a bad idea overall--especially when they reduce other taxes, as toll roads are in essence a "user pays" concept. My kids don't go to public school (homeschooled), but I'm still paying those taxes! I'd love to see more of a "user pays" system there! I also think that vehicle registration/licensing fees should be more in line with the damage a given vehicle does to roadways. A tractor-trailer does a lot, a motorcycle, virtually none, but the fees are still based in part on the age of the vehicle.

Just watch the next few years--you'll see the Indiana economy doing quite well and the indicators will all point back to Major Moves.

Ok, I'm done rambling.

Jason

 

Here's the real deal: I'm in Elkhart and know this stuff from not only living literally, at the toll road but also I get info from several people I know who work there.

There's good and bad in this.

The new company, who has already taken over, has already reduced the workforce, rather than increase it as they told the state they would do. I personally know 1 person who was 'let go' and she knows of many others. She thought it was somewhere around 75 let go. They were laid off and not fired.

What we were told when the toll road was built was that once it was paid for, there would no longer be a toll. (This should be required by the Feds because I don't believe any Interstate should be allowed to be toll ever.) The toll road was paid for many, many years ago and they currently have over $1 mil in the bank.

The toll rates were going to go up whether it was leased out or not. If it isn't the cheapest per mile, it's one of the closest to the cheapest toll roads in the country. I croak everytime I travel in in OH or go up into Chicago because of the tolls.

I don't believe that a foreign company could take any worse care of an Interstate than Indiana has. Anyone hitting the first toll booth on the West end will attest to this. The only good parts there are the shoulders. You need a 4X4 to get through some of those potholes. It is the absolute worst Interstate I've ever been on.

Most trucks will not go off of the toll road because of rate increases as the bulk of the toll road truckers are double and triple trailers and the triples are only allowed on the toll road in Indiana and doubles on the Interstates. Furthermore, Indiana has raised the speed limit for the trucks on the toll road so in the overall picture, they will still save money by staying on the toll road.

For Munky: I hope you don't drive any around Chicago because guess what? Many toll roads there are leased out to the same company that is leasing the Indiana Toll Road.

On another subject but related, it seems that Indiana is going to be farming out their Medicaid program to a private firm soon. I follow the news pretty close and I guess unless you are from the Indy area, it hasn't been reported much. One of the top 2 companies in the running for it is currently under investigation by the Federal Gov.