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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSome state lawmakers frustrated by what they say has been poor maintenance are making moves to have the state take over control of Meridian and Washington streets in Indianapolis, roads that were previously state highways and were relinquished to the city more than 30 years ago.
But now a key committee chairman said the issue is headed for a study committee for further review, making action more likely in 2025.
The discussion comes amid a debate over plans by IndyGo—the city’s public transportation agency—to create bus-only lanes on Washington Street (previously U.S. 40) as part of its planned Blue Line rapid-transit service. The Red Line, which opened in 2019, has dedicated lanes on its route, which includes parts of Meridian Street.
State Rep. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, opposes the dedicated bus lanes and has filed legislation to ban them for the Blue Line project. But IndyGo officials say a ban would cause the state to lose out on $150 million in federal funding, money the city says it planned to use on repairs and upgrades on Washington Street.
During a committee discussion on Tuesday about Senate Bill 52, Freeman said that Indianapolis has “failed to maintain Meridian and Washington streets since the state gave those assets to the city 30-plus years ago.” Earlier this year, Freeman said on the Senate floor that a task force on state road funding would also consider the possibility of the state taking back control of those streets.
Speaking to IBJ on Thursday, House Roads and Transportation Chair Jim Pressel, called the discussion a “great conversation,” but he said many questions remain and the idea that the state would take back over the roads—which would require the state to pay their maintenance costs—needs to be vetted thoroughly.
“Is the state capable of doing that? Do we set a dangerous precedent by taking back a road that we’ve paid a local unit of government to take? So will everybody else jump in line and want theirs taken back if they can’t maintain it? That’s a concern,” Pressel told IBJ. “Do we have to make INDOT bigger? Do we have to add another substation to take care of that?”
Because of those questions, Pressel told IBJ he won’t allow legislation out of his committee with that provision at this time. But he said “everything is on the table” for discussion when the Funding Indiana’s Roads for a Safer, Stronger Tomorrow task force next meets, he added.
“We want to talk about all kinds of different scenarios and lay out the future of road funding this summer, and then bring it back with legislative suggestions for the ’25 session,” Pressel said.
Some of Pressel’s concerns were broached in an Indiana Department of Transportation report on the condition of Indianapolis’ relinquished highways. That report was authorized by 2023 legislation authored by Freeman that resulted in $8 million in additional annual road funding for Indianapolis.
In the report, Washington Street scored among the lowest on a pavement quality index, receiving a 61 on a scale that ranges from one to 100. (The lowest was Rockville Road, which received a 37 in INDOT’s evaluation). In testimony Tuesday, Indianapolis Department of Public Works Director Brandon Herget said maintenance has been deferred on Washington Street due to the planned infusion of $150 million in federal funding that would come with IndyGo’s Blue Line project.
The Department of Public Works declined to comment on the impact a state takeover of Indianapolis’ relinquished highways could have.
IndyGo’s bus rapid transit routes, already a target in legislation this session, could also be under attack if state officials sought control of relinquished state highways. The Red Line runs partially on Meridian Street, which is the former U.S. 31 and State Road 135. IndyGo’s planned Blue Line would run along Washington Street, which is the former U.S. 40. The Purple Line on 38th Street lies on the former U.S. 36, State Road 37 and State Road 67.
“The city has been very supportive and a great partner in these projects. These roads being shifted to state control would require us to examine the future of these projects very closely,” IndyGo spokeswoman Carrie Black wrote in an emailed statement.
State Rep. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, is a member of the state road funding task force and the former Indianapolis controller. He told IBJ that any discussion about a state takeover of Indianapolis roads is “short-sighted” and fails to solve the issues within the state’s funding formula that have led to funding shortages for Indianapolis. It also adds to an impending fiscal cliff for INDOT caused by shifts toward electric vehicles, which reduce gas taxes, he said.
“If they do take those lane miles away from the city, that could be helpful from a funding perspective. But that doesn’t address the underlying cause of why Indianapolis receives less money than what it should, which is the imbalance and the different variables that are being used in the funding formula,” Qaddoura told IBJ.
The current state funding formula for roads is calculated based on centerline miles, which means that one mile of Washington Street, which has three lanes in each direction in several parts of the city, is considered the same in the formula as a two-lane rural road.
Additionally, Qaddoura said he would be concerned that the state agency would not take into account the way urban roads impact quality of life in neighborhoods. He also cited INDOT’s testimony before the state road funding task force last year, in which state officials said the agency could see losses between $150 million and $506 million annually due to the state’s heavy reliance on motor fuel.
The INDOT report, which was released in November, includes a list of considerations for any potential road reacquisition. Among them: INDOT could need to hire staff for a new subdistrict unit and the cost of immediate maintenance needed on Washington and Meridian streets would take funding away from other planned projects.
Additionally, Indianapolis would receive less total road funding if the 93 centerline miles of Meridian and Washington streets were returned to the state.
It’s only in rare cases that INDOT takes back relinquished roads, agency spokeswoman Natalie Garrett told IBJ in an email. Relinquishments and acquisitions are considered on a case-to-case basis, Garrett wrote, and it is more common for local entities to acquire these roads from the state than for the state to seek reacquisition.
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Ha! Yeah let the State take over Wash and Meridian. Let’s throw in 16th street while we’re at it.
I hope this “state takeover” goes better than the takeover of Manual High School. How’d that go? Why do we never talk about that one…? Anyone?
Let these idiots play their stupid games.
The rest of us have to get back to work.
Indeed
Do you remember how totally messed up Manual High was before it
was taken away from Indianapolis Public Schools.
1). It had the lowest test scores in the state
2). Fighting and violence was rampant
3). Only 20% of the boys graduated on time. The girls only slightly higher
graduation rates.
4). Truancy was through the roof.
5). The drop out rate was the highest in the state.
In short, Manual was an utter disaster. The administrators and staff were utterly wore out and defeated. Many Students were afraid to go to school,
which contributed to the high drop out rate.
The city did a horrible job.
Aaron Freeman thinks he’s solving a problem by taking away roads from Indianapolis, when it’s the inability of Marion County Republicans like him to stand up for constituents and fight for road funding that is the true problem.
$8 million dollars a year fixes, what, three miles of road?
Meanwhile Freeman gets roundabouts in his district implemented by the city of Indianapolis that make east/west travel possible, and he wants to vent about what the city of Indianapolis does. Maybe the city of Indianapolis should tear out those roundabouts and let his constituents go back to waiting 10 minutes to clear an intersection with stop signs. Those who live on the southeast side of Indianapolis know what I’m talking about.
If Freeman is so sure that his ideas are what Indianapolis needs, why has he passed on running for mayor three times in a row? Oh yeah, he’s for local control as long as he’s the one doing the controlling.
Meanwhile, IndyGo shows up with $150 million of funding to fix Washington Street and Freeman is going to turn it away. That is next level cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Correct
The single most transparent thing about the Republican supermajority is Freeman’s desire to BE mayor without actually having to be ELECTED mayor.
Rep. Qaddoura hits the nail squarely on the head when he says a state takeover of Indianapolis roads is “short-sighted” and fails to solve the issues within the state’s funding formula that have led to funding shortages for Indianapolis.
Rep. Freeman could care less, as his singular goal is to get rid of mass transit in the country’s 16th largest city while the city tries to kill two birds with one federal stone: improve some streets as well as mass transit.
Rep. Pressel can be a part of that solution by letting Indianapolis control its own fate, and telling Freeman to back off.
Correct
Pressel is maybe more of the problem than Freeman. He’s in denial that not only does the formula need to be fixed to be more fair to urban areas, but that more money needs to be collected. Indiana Republicans seem to think the fix is add toll roads to the interstates (prohibited by federal law) in order to collect funds from drivers who drive through Indiana without stopping for gas. They might have better luck buying Powerball tickets.
But we have money for new roads like the Mid States Corridor to run alongside US231, which is wasteful as can be.
If Freeman wants to tell someone how to build roads, maybe he should focus on telling INDOT to stop building so many new ones that aren’t needed. I-69 is the last road in which you could make a case was needed.
…and on I-69, the “case” for actual need would ONLY have been the piece from Bloomington to Indy.
I disagree in that it’s a highway from Detroit to Houston. Other components of I-69 are being built elsewhere.
>It also adds to an impending fiscal cliff for INDOT caused by shifts toward electric vehicles, which reduce gas taxes, he said.
That’s an entirely BS argument. Electrics and Hybrids pay a surcharges of $221 and $74 annually, enough to cover 1300 gallons or 438 gallons of gas, which is MANY TIMES MORE than a similar gas vehicle pays in annual gas taxes.
Not to mention that the electricity used by an electric car is already taxed, so the tax on electric cars is many times worse than a similar car.
An electric SUV may pay $221 in fees plus $50 in electricity taxes annual, where a 20-MPG SUV would pay only $125 in gas taxes.
So Freeman admits that the state funding formula for Indianapolis roads is insufficient, admits that Washington is too wide, and still prefers to support his concrete and car-dealer donors above the residents of the city. Got it.
Freeman is not saying that Indianapolis gets an insufficient amount of money. He is just not happy with how they spend money and wants to take that control away from the city. He wants them to focus the funding on roads that are used by folks like him who live in the donut counties or the extreme suburbs of Marion County.
I still don’t understand what about the interstates he finds so difficult. How did he go to school in Illinois and Ohio without using interstates? Did he really just take state and US highways the whole time?
The state government, years ago, needed to provide for an ‘annual Capitol infrastructure ongoing allocation’. A fixed % of state revenue needs to be automatically set aside for construction 🚧 and maintenance of Indianapolis roads, over and above whatever the city is able to manage (which obviously is inadequate)! No more cold and hot patching as accepted maintenance. No roads in the state are as dangerous, expensive and ugly as those in the focal point of the state. It’s not a seasonal problem, but an ongoing situation that needs to be corrected. The state needs to re-prioritize its expenditures before another dime is spent on anything else.