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......... LETTER: April 8, 2004 Response to Chambers' View of I-69 Catherine Burton, President of McANA, and Tim Maloney, Executive Director of HEC, sent the following letter to the Editor of the Indianapolis Star. It was not published. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce would hardly suggest that their members run their businesses the way they want the State of Indiana to run the business of I-69. They would all go broke. Of course they are counting on taxpayers across the state to subsidize the I-69 boondoggle. As Senator Larry Borst has said, all over Indiana, folks will find that either their gas taxes will go up by 5 cents a gallon to pay for I-69 or other road projects will have to be suspended for 14 years so that scarce transportation dollars can be diverted for this inflated I-69 price tag. The authors of a recent Spotlight letter to the editor, Kevin Brinegar and John Myrland, also put forth the idea that "it is time to quit debating the merits" of INDOT's choice. Well in a democracy, the debating goes on, and rightly so. Lets get the facts straight, though. Lets begin with the fact that Indiana leads the nation in freeway miles. Yet, Indiana's economic doldrums prove that this is NOT a formula for economic prosperity in the 21st century. Other transportation projects, such as public transportation, create more jobs for more years than freeway-building does. As the saying goes: "If freeways bring prosperity, why ain't we rich already?" The I-69 proposal has never passed a credible cost/benefit analysis - a test that any shrewd business person would insist upon passing before venturing into a major investment. INDOT's latest cost/benefit analysis was fatally flawed. And when those flaws were corrected, the project was found to be a net negative: losing 34 cents for every dollar invested. That does not meet anyone's definition of a successful enterprise. In addition, the economic impact touted by these authors is refuted in INDOT's own Environmental Impact Statement. It says "When population growth is taken into account, we find that the real disposable income per capita for the build alternatives does not differ significantly from the 2025 forecast for the no build alternative." Translation: doing absolutely nothing is just as good as wasting $2 billion on I-69. The business lobbyists also bring up the time savings of the new-terrain route over the current roadway system. But, upgrading US 41 and using the Common Sense route will also save drive time. The difference between these two route alternatives is a mere 12 minutes. Looking nationally, the proposed NAFTA route I-69 is actually 84 miles longer than existing freeways. And, Kentucky has taken the fiscally responsible position of upgrading existing highways, as the proponents of the Common Sense route have advocated for Indiana. There are additional facts that the pro-new terrain folks don't want to talk about. That is, Terre Haute and points along US 41, stand to lose business and Perry Township in Marion County stands to lose between $100 and $200 million in tax base. In their eagerness to get their hands on over $2 billion dollars, construction interests do not care at whose expense those dollars are derived. Time after time the citizens of Indiana have responded to the real facts and rejected the I-69 boondoggle. When you have the facts on your side, you do not give up. Let there be no mistake: the debate is not over. Catherine
A. Burton, Tim
Maloney
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