Transport plan boasts rail, bus routes

INDIANAPOIS (WISH) - Light rail service and a regional bus system headline Indy Connect’s regional transportation plan, the culmination of more than one hundred meetings and research, the group announced Monday.

The plan calls for adding 38 routes to the existing bus system, cutting wait times and adding community circulation routes. In addition, busses would run until midnight on weekdays and 10 p.m. on weekends.

The long range plan also calls for establishing rail transit between Union Station to Noblesville and Union Station to Franklin along existing rail lines. A route to Zionsville will also be established if funding allows for its construction.

Light rail could also be a possibility along Washington Street from Union Station to the Indianapolis International Airport under the newly announced plan. Over time, light rail would also be added along Washington Street from the airport to Plainfield and from Union Station to Cumberland.

While the plans sound like they’ll soon make your daily commute a much easier journey, Indy Connect officials say their masterpiece hinges on getting the right funding.

Existing and projected funds would be used to pay for roadway improvements and for bike and pedestrian pathways outlined in the plan, but ultimately, a new dedicated source of local funds is necessary to pay for the bus and rail systems.

Indy Connect says the state legislature will ultimately decide what kind of local funding will be used and whether or not a tax increase will be necessary to pay for the project.

Lawmakers will be asked to authorize county referendums on tax hikes required to pay for the improvements.

"At the soonest, we could see one occurring in November of next year, assuming legislation authorizing a referendum occurs," said Ehren Bingaman of the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority.

Early estimates indicate residents living in counties participating in the plan will pay an average of $15 per household per month to support the investment in the transportation plan.

The bus and rail components will cost an estimated $2.5 billion to build over the next 25 years and will cost $135 million per year to operate and maintain.

Only the counties that approve the tax hikes would be included in the system.

"I can imagine Marion County and Hamilton County thinking that there's value for money in them, and if we can get as few as these two counties to initially say, ‘Go,’ I think we're off to the races," said Mark Miles of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.

That first light rail line could then be a reality within five years. Public meetings on the plans will be conducted over the next two weeks.

Indy Connect is a partnership of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization , The Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority and IndyGo.