New toll road a dumb idea

Something that I did not mention yesterday was the Governor's Bright Idea for a new toll road from Pendleton to Martinsville via Shelbyville. Or something like that. I have heard drunks sitting in the The Three Pigs come up with better ideas and they probably had a better grasp of the facts.

Of course, the Herald-Bulletin wet its collective pants over the Bright Idea. Their enthusiasm might be due to the Governor speaking with the editorial board on November 10. Apparently, no one thought to question him very thoroughly on his Bright Idea. On the other had, a lot of people saw right off the bat the problems with this Bright Idea - like eminent domain issues.

The Editor seemingly fell in love with the idea on November 11. The Publisher compared this Bright Idea to the Greensburg Honda plant in these terms:

It’s about vision, willingness to change and a plain old let’s give it a go attitude.

Gov. Mitch Daniels is in the middle of this again with an opportunity for Madison County that might be as good for this community as Honda is for the city of Greensburg and Decatur County.

The Editors gave it a Thumbs Up on November 12.

Thumbs up: To Gov. Mitch Daniels’ vision for a 75-mile Indiana Commerce Connector toll road loop around Indianapolis. The planned roadway would begin near Pendleton and could bring much needed economic development throughout the area.

So a plan originally proposed to relieve congestion at I-465 and I-69 and to finance he extension of I-69 to Evansville became a tool for Anderson's economic recovery. Of course, anyone who did not like the Bright Idea was a dim-witted moron opposing all economic progress as revealed from on high by the Governor.

By November 20, the Herald Bulletin posted the results of its online poll and the opinions were mixed.

On November 22, the Herald-Bulletin got Patrick Barkey, an economics professor at Ball State University to chip in his opinion. I could nitpick Professor Barkey's piece, for example:

1. Since this loop was proposed for truck traffic, how does this loop decrease non-truck traffic between Anderson and I-465?
2. Since what really clogs the I-69 between Anderson and I-465 are commuters trying to get to work and Indianapolis has come under more and more air pollution alerts, how does this loop help solve this problem?
3. What will be the costs in money and time in using eminent domain to acquire the land necessary to build the road?

All of that is a bit unnecessary, though. Well, at this time it is. See, while the Herald Bulletin co9ntinued to run stories touting the benefit of the toll road (including another article on November 21 titled "Direction unclear for area toll road Many say tollway good for Madison County") , on November 16 the Indianapolis Star found out something that went unreported in the Herald Bulletin.

An $850,000 study for the Indiana Department of Transportation found that an outer beltway around Indianapolis would not generate much long-term economic growth or offer a traffic panacea -- two of Gov. Mitch Daniels' key arguments for building a private toll bypass.

So five days after the Star prints a story that shows the Governor unsupported by the facts, the Herald-Bulletin continues to tout the Bright Idea's potential for economic growth. The Herald-Bulletin's Publisher wrote:

...We are willing to be the conduit between Madison County and the offices of the governor. Make informed decisions and make your opinion known through our letters to the editor or as comments on our Web site www.theheraldbulletin.com, to this column or other stories regarding the Indiana Commerce Connector....

No way could we have known all the facts about the new toll road if we had to rely upon the Herald-Bulletin. Conduit implies a pipe running in two directions, but in this case that conduit runs only from the Governor's Office to the Herald-Bulletin.