With Indiana's gas tax is going up this week, what do travelers get for it? Indiana has a reputation as one of the worst states in the Midwest for road construction. It's not because they don't do enough of it or too much. It's because they start these projects and then drag them out forever.
One project on I-94 up near Gary took more than six years to complete. I-465 construction around Indianapolis has become a forever project. The widening of I-65 in southern Indiana took six plus years.
With a record number of people heading out to the highways for Fourth of July weekend, we all know how frustrating it is on a long trip to come upon road construction, funnel into one lane for a few miles and creep along looking at idle bulldozers, tractors and asphalt machines with no workers in sight.
The solution is actually quite simple but it takes a leader with the guts to do it. Whether it's Lyndsay Quist, the commissioner of INDOT, or Gov. Mike Braun himself, they only have to do three things:
First, set a firm and mutually agreed upon deadline with the contractor for completion of the project. Second, require all construction companies that want to bid successfully on these lucrative road projects to commit their crews to working three shifts, 24 hours a day until the project is completed. And third, if they finish the project a month early, they will be paid a 10% bonus. But if they finish the project one day after the agreed deadline, they will lose 10%, and that will escalate for every extra day.
Incentives have a powerful way of getting work done in a timely manner. The solution is only a matter of the will of a strong leader.
I'm Bill Lamb, and that's my point of view.
