I-69 drives Indiana

Listen up, I-69 detractors! Every week it's something new. There's no end to the litany of complaints to the I-69 corridor between Indianapolis and Evansville. It's time to get off your high horses and understand that the infrastructure improvements being made are for the long-term benefit of this state. \nI'm going to address one-by-one as many of the arguments against the new interstate as will fit on the page and explain to you in the simplest terms possible why you're wrong. Now, if you oppose I-69 purely on the ad hominem grounds that Mitch Daniels is a slimy Republican, then your argument is bunk and barely worth mentioning.\nIt's a known fact that although Indiana has traditionally been an agricultural state, large manufacturers are a growing portion of the state's economy and of utmost importance to the state's future. The new Honda factory being built in Greensburg, for instance, is scheduled to open in 2008. Not only is the plant predicted to bring huge tax revenues for the state, but it will also increase factory wages up to $24 an hour in order to compete with the car maker. You can bet that one of the deciding factors that brought Honda to Indiana was the prospect of a shiny new interstate on which to distribute the 2019 lineup to the Midwest. \nThe I-69 project is going to have serious environmental repercussions. How can we sacrifice the state's uniquely irreplaceable ecosystems for purely economic gains? I'll admit, it sounds irresponsible and selfish to spoil Indiana's pristine wilderness, but if you look at the numbers, we're not sacrificing that much. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement concluded that most of the potential routes -- including paving over SR-37 -- have very minimal impact. In fact, 75 percent to 80 percent of the affected land is farmland. Moreover, only 0.1 percent of southern Indiana forests and 0.1 percent of wetlands will be developed. I don't know exactly when the environmental loss is greater than the economic gains, but I'm sure the total damage must be more severe than one-tenth of a percent.\nThough the environmental costs are not particularly overwhelming, the monetary estimates are. Approximately $2 billion will be spent on the project beginning in 2008. This money will be taken from other government programs like education and public safety. Very few believe the overstretched budget can handle such an expenditure. This is where the toll road comes in. A road toll is just a road tax, but instead of a 1 percent blanket tax hike on your income, drivers will pay the price per trip. A toll will free up the available taxes for other things and ensure high-quality maintenance for the entire life of the highway.\nIndiana requires this road. The inconvenience is another worthy sacrifice; I-69 is a long-term investment that will be around far longer than any one of us will be driving on SR-37. This is a project for the state's posterity, a gift for the next generation of Hoosiers.