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I am not even talking about the strange approach to DayLight Savings (I'll get it passed - but won't designate a zone... creating a possible patchwork of mini-time zones across the state) I am talking about his "My Highway or No Highway" proposals for I 69.
For those not familiar with the I 69 story - it probably started in the late 1980s with a push for an interstate to connect Evansville (in the south western part of the state) to Indianapolis. There are several state highways that can be used to make the route but it is a little like driving the two legs of a triangle instead of the hypotenuse. One has to look at a map to realize why Indiana has a nickname as "crossroads of America" - as we run connectors of many east west and north south interstates. The problem is that this would involve a major new-road construction (that is - not rebuilding existing roads and upgrading), that it is hugely expensive, that it would have big negative environmental impacts and the new highway would save only 10 or 20 minutes total drive time. So it has been debated, studied, debated, studied for nearly 20 years.
The debate pitted two cities against each other - Evansville which was behind the project and Bloomington (college town partway between the two cities - and lying upon another stateroad that some plans used for the last leg of the new terrain highway) which was heavily against it. The last administration(s) used muscle to push the highway forward under the guise of "economic development" - (which was met with derisions that led to the monicker of the project becomming "the NAFTA highway") but questions of HOW much it would cost lingered when Mitch came into office as gov. For years the push for the Highway included "fed highway dollars are committed and we will lose the money if we don't use it" - but in more recent years Hoosiers woke up to realize that it would require a whole lot more money than the fed. money meaning more $ would be lost by spending the fed $ on the highway than would be lost by getting the $ and building the highway).
This fall Mitch started pushing a way to "pay for the highway - and get it done faster than under the last admins plan." - It involved privatizing the project - making the new road a toll road. Better yet - it would be sold to foreign investors (to be honest - I do not know why the foreign investors part - but it is now stated in almost every news item about Mitch's proposal - so it seems to be a given.)
But here is the rub - the great splitter of Hoosier republicans that I predict will materialize - to get the land for the highway - there as to be a whole lot of land taken through eminent domain. A whole lot of farms carved up - including (for the most recently approved plan) some land owned by the family of Senator Lugar. Mitch is so glued to his "brilliant idea" that he has told the state house - and the public, that it is HIS way or NO way. So to get "his" highway - there will have to be govt land-taking - to be given to ... a foreign corporation... so that we hoosiers can PAY to drive the road. Better yet - the last leg of the road to Indy will use an existing state highway that connects Bloomington to Indy (and a whole lot of growing suburbs between) - will require people who drive it for free today - to pay the toll. Oh, and he is going to raise the tolls on the existing tollroad across the northern part of the state - by a huge amount over the next couple of years.
Almost like he WANTS to break the libertarian type hoosiers, the small govt hoosiers, and the anti-tax folks, and the militia types (there are a lot of them around - and they HATE the idea of eminent domain for any reason, let alone for corporate benefit, and I can't even begin to imagine how much they will relish the foreign corporation aspect of it) away from the hoosier GOP.
Popcorn anyone?
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