INDOT lays out the road ahead

Clark County

Discussion

November 16, 2009

Next four years of transportation projects available for the public to view, comment on

By BRADEN LAMMERS The News and Tribune Mon Nov 16, 2009, 09:14 PM EST

Do you want to know if your street is slated to be torn up in the next few years, if you are going to see orange barrels on your daily commute or do you want to voice your opinion for a road project you desperately want to see completed?

Now’s your chance.

The Indiana Department of Transportation has opened up its public-comment period for the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, a four-year, fiscally constrained and prioritized program of transportation projects, as described by INDOT.

“The [public] comment period is just that,” said Marvin Jenkins, public information officer for INDOT’s Seymour district, in an e-mail. “It is an opportunity for the public to comment or make suggestions on the project itself [and] all comments are taken into account as the project progresses.”

Projects included in the program span from 2010 through 2013 and can range from anything such as minor road improvements, to purchasing helper vehicles, building pedestrian paths and includes major plans such as the Ohio River Bridges project.

In the draft released Monday, Clark and Floyd counties contained more than 75 projects of varying cost, priority designation and funding sources scheduled within the next four years.

According to the project list, the cost for all locally initiated projects is more than $60 million. If the major project plans are included, the cost jumps more than an additional $500 million.

The amount listed in the project list is the total cost; it is not broken down into the federal, state or local funds that will be required, Jenkins said. The bulk of the costs included in the major projects plans is the aforementioned Ohio River Bridges project — or plans directly related — which totals more than $550 million.

Although the plans are included in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, which covers only four years, it does not mean all projects will be completed in that time frame. Also, projects included in the draft are subject to amendment.

To help ensure cooperation from different funding organizations, another influencing factor on local plans are Metropolitan Planning Organizations. For Southern Indiana, and especially with projects spanning multiple states, those organizations are given an integral role.

That role falls under the purview of Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, locally.

“Anything that has to do with federal dollars that is in [INDOT’s] [transportation plan] also has to be in our [transportation plan],” said Josh Suiter, community outreach specialist for KIPDA.

However, the state still makes the designations on which projects it wants given the priority, then passes the information along to KIPDA.

According to INDOT, the state provides Metropolitan Planning Organizations with estimates of available federal and state funds, which can be utilized to help develop its transportation plan.

An open house for public comments will be hosted from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday in Seymour. The comment period also will be open online through the last open house in the state, scheduled for Friday.

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More information:

Project costs

Estimated total cost for locally initiated road projects

• Clark — $28.59 million

• Floyd — $31.62 million

• Combined — $60.21 million

Estimated total cost for drafted major projects

* Includes Ohio River Bridges Project

• Clark — $553.20 million

• Floyd — $15.56 million

• Combined — $568.76 million

SO YOU KNOW

• A regional open house will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at Seymour’s INDOT district office, 185 Agrico Lane. Comments on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program also are being taken online at www.in.gov/indot. A project list also can be found at that site.