INDIANAPOLIS — Starting in the next few months, a small group of Indiana lawmakers will start creating a long-term plan for the state’s most pressing road and bridge needs.
The task force, known as the Funding Indiana’s Roads for a Stronger, Safer Tomorrow, or FIRSST task force, will submit its final recommendations to the General Assembly before the start of the next session.
Former State Rep. and Republican strategist Mike Murphy said as the state spends billions on road and bridge repair, the interim study session will help lawmakers prioritize which projects the state should focus on first.
”The trend over the last many years is, number one, to connect our medium and small cities more effectively to the greater world for commerce,” Murphy said.
One item on Republicans’ wish list: improvements to I-65 and I-70. Before the start of the last session, Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston said his caucus would start working on a plan to expand both interstates.
”I think it’s important when you’re the Crossroads of America for both commerce and, quite frankly, for safety issues that we expand and make 65 and 70 three lanes border to border,” Speaker Huston said in November of last year.
According to State Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D- Indianapolis), while there’s a greater chance lawmakers will introduce meaningful legislation ahead of the budget year, she’s concerned more Marion County dollars will end up going towards road projects across the state.
“We have roads that continue to crumble,” State Rep. Pryor said. ”I want other counties to have great roads as well, but I don’t think that it’s fair that Marion County continues to send a lot of our money to the state of Indiana when we don’t get all that money back.”
An INDOT spokesperson said while the agency has yet to receive specific plans about what lawmakers will discuss this summer, three improvement projects are currently underway for I-65 and I-70 with several more in the design phase.
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