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The streets and roads in the city of Indianapolis have been in a state of wild disrepair for decades.
Disagree with that? Perhaps you’ve not yet been personally victimized by the terrible state of Indy’s thoroughfares.
Our infrastructure is almost a joke — with dilapidated, faded Department of Public Works cones marking spots that many of us reported to the Mayor’s Action Center years ago. News flash: the cones are still there.
Years of disrepair and deferred maintenance (and, some could argue, a lack of action from multiple mayoral administrations) have positioned Indianapolis for a historic and urgent decision by our City-County Council: mandating a locally controlled revenue stream to implement infrastructure fixes that Indianapolis deems necessary.
The decades of disrepair border on negligence, especially for anyone in the disability community, constantly attempting to maneuver misaligned sidewalks and street crossings that run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act, among other things.
But that’s only one reason to properly fund Indianapolis infrastructure. The broader reason is fairness and equity: roadways that work for everyone.
We need to raise the county vehicle excise surtax to a flat $100 for passenger vehicles, motorcycles, lighter trailers and trucks under 11,000 pounds and set the annual wheel tax at $240 for heavier vehicle classes. The average fee currently stands around $20 a vehicle, a fee that Marion County vehicle owners already pay annually to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles with their registration. The revenue is restricted to infrastructure spending — it cannot be redirected to general-purpose spending.
The urgency cannot be overstated. And it’s critical to remember that this initiative is a bipartisan solution that came from the other end of Market Street, with the Indiana General Assembly’s creation of a $50 million annual funding opportunity for Indianapolis.
The fine print in the law requires the city to pony up the $50 million match. The match must be certified by the end of the calendar year, which means we must act before Sept. 1 for new rates to take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
Indianapolis is not alone in this — Terre Haute is having the same conversation regarding their match.
When it comes the bottom line, the numbers are significant according to Democratic Councilor Andy Nielsen: an estimated $855.75 million in new state and local infrastructure investment from 2027 to 2031, with $279 million for residential streets (supporting an estimated 500 miles of resurfacing) and $15 million for alleys.
Beginning in 2031, the plan provides an additional $200 million annually in new, permanent infrastructure funding for future projects.
Outside of federally funded projects (like the Red Line and one-to-two-way roadway conversions) or projects that support downtown events (like Georgia Street), the city has spent relatively little over the past 20 to 30 years to maintain our streets.
The improvements made have been aimed at increasing the surface area of a road, not at addressing the core problems that lie underneath.
The city has accumulated a great deal of “technical debt” in maintaining our transportation system. After years of ignoring the core issues or paving them over, we must dig ourselves out of this mess.
Indianapolis can be part of a bipartisan solution to either meet the match and bring $50 million a year back to Indianapolis or leave that money on the table while our roads slip into further disrepair.
I know which way I hope my councilor votes.•
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Haake is a government affairs and public relations strategist at Onward & Upward Strategies. Send comments to [email protected].
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