Holcomb Unveils ‘Next Level Roads’ Plan
Holcomb said the plan will help Hoosiers get from place to place quicker.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowGovernor Eric Holcomb has detailed plans for the first five years of a 20-year program to improve Indiana’s roads and bridges. They include investing about $4.7 billion to resurface nearly 10,000 miles and repair or replace approximately 1,300 bridges. The Next Level Roads initiative also includes $342 million per year to help cities, towns and counties pay for local road projects. The Indiana General Assembly passed a comprehensive infrastructure plan during this year’s session, creating what Holcomb calls "a fully-funded plan in place for the next 20 years."
The plan is funded in part by increases in dozens of taxes and fees approved as part of the infrastructure plan. That includes an increase of 10 cents per gallon in the state’s fuel tax.
"While there’s a little cost with it, $78 now they say for the average Hoosier driver," said Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma at an event this morning in Indianapolis, "some leave out the footnote that the average Hoosier driver pays almost $500 in additional maintenance to their vehicles because of the condition of state and local roads."
Bosma joined Holcomb and Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe McGuinness at today’s announcement. During the event, Holcomb said the plan will help Hoosiers get from place to place quicker and more safely with projects "literally connecting three different countries when it’s all said and done."
Holcomb signed the infrastructure bill into law in April, at the time calling it "a truly historic moment in the state’s history." You can see the full details of the Next Level Roads plan by clicking here.
Holcomb says the Next Level Roads Plan will make Indiana an example to the rest of the nation.