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Dear Editor:
Thanks for covering my comments to the City Council at last week’s meeting. Public comments at Council meetings are brief so I’d like to elaborate a bit.
Like many residents, I have spent time sitting in traffic on State Road 32 in Noblesville, so I understand the need for a bypass. My argument remains that the current path is wrong, not that the bypass is a bad idea.
The main point I made to the Council is that now that we are faced with funding this project, we are approaching a point of no return. There is still time to change our minds, but that window of opportunity is closing. So far, it’s been mostly talk, but once we start destroying things (like homes) it will be very hard to turn back.
There was very little discussion among councilors at that meeting considering this vote was for a new tax for a project whose price tag has more than doubled in the last couple of years.
It will now cost more for this single road than the entire annual city budget, and that doesn’t even include the bridge.
Isn’t anybody nervous about that?
This has all the trappings of a potential money pit, yet the vote for this tax was unanimous and discussion was minimal.
My main objection to the tax they just passed is that it is being called a “user fee.” It’s not. User fees are paid by people who use the amenity and are optional. If you don’t want to pay, don’t use the road. This is a broad-based tax being paid by everyone who owns a car in Noblesville, whether they use the road or not. Considering this is a bypass, I suspect most people who use the road will be from out of town and they won’t pay a dime.
That’s what led to my suggestion that we make this a toll road. Now, that’s a user fee. Use the road, pay a fee. It doesn’t get much fairer than that. Tolling technology has come a long way since I used to throw change into those baskets on Chicago’s Tristate Tollway. I noted at the meeting that I’ve driven across the interstate bridge in Louisville without registering anywhere or having one of those transponders and I still get a bill in the mail. Driving is heavily regulated and hi-tech tolling is easy and efficient. I don’t like paying tolls, but it’s a valuable reminder that bridges (and roads) cost money.
I respect Councilor Hampton’s objection that a toll would defeat the purpose of the road because it would discourage drivers from using it. He also feels it would be unfair if he had to pay the toll every time he used the road because he might use it “15 times in a day.”
Two comments: I believe if a person uses the road 15 times, he should be paying more than the person who never uses the road. He might not like it, but it is fair. Secondly, if there is truly a demand for this road, a modest toll (I suggest $1 per trip) will not discourage people from using it. If it does, I suspect there isn’t strong enough demand to warrant spending this kind of money.
I knew the council wouldn’t vote to establish a toll road at last week’s meeting. My suggestion was meant to get our city government thinking about more creative solutions to moving traffic. Building highways through established neighborhoods is a discredited 20th century solution to traffic congestion, which forward-thinking cities are now correcting. A wheel tax is a heavy-handed solution to a very specific revenue shortfall. We can do better than this.
The price tag for this project will continue to rise, so I’m sure there will be more need for revenue collection in the future if this plan continues. A quick calculation reveals that if 10,000 drivers paid $1/trip to use this road every day, we could pay for the entire thing in a little over 30 years at current prices. By then it will likely be time to build a new one.
So we’re all going to pay more to register our cars next year whether we use the proposed bypass or not, and no one from out of town will be helping pay the bill. I encourage the city to consider a toll road and get rid of the wheel tax.
Mike Corbett
Noblesville
No one will use a toll roll in the middle of town. It would totally defeat the purpose of having an alternate route through town.
I agree. If I was wanting to bypass the traffic and an easier route I would gladly pay the dollar. I’m not stingy. I hate it that homes and businesses are planned to be destroyed for a plan that is not funded. A wheel tax that is rediculous for us to have to pay for something we don’t want. Ask the residents. Ask the voters.
I always thought 32 was a state road and not a city road. Why fo we gave to pay if it’s a state road?
Greed
Try putting it on a state highway and not in the middle of town for people to pay for dumb s**t Why don’t we pay for things our town really needs not a Toll roll and how about putting something here like A drive-in or another skating ring for our kids have something to do instead of being out on the streets doing drugs it’s bad enough that you’re putting in parking garage in the middle of town that we do not have room for you’re talking about taking away the parks and putting in other things that we don’t need and for us low income families we can’t pay that we barely make enough to make sure our kids have food in their stomachs clothes on their back‘s and a good education
The part of this project that continues to dumbfound me are the details and ramifications. Details- will there be a sign that says alternate route? Will visitors to the area totally bypass our downtown? And ramifications- will Conner St essentially become a truck route while all the residents bypass the heart of our city? As a Old Town resident, I’d certainly prefer a diversion for the semis not the people. What will the impact be on businesses in our core and on events?
The Noblesville citizens should not accept the wheel tax on a road project that has a solution. Direct the semi trucks to 146th Street with signs. It is a divided four lane highway that connects to route 69 and soon to be route 65 with US 31 in between. Start a conversation with the state of Indiana who decides the traffic flow for Ind. 32. This will save both Noblesville and Westfield cities from semi truck traffic rumbling on Ind 32. And save the older homes and businesses along Pleasant Street.