An issue near and dear to my heart.

I know what you're thinking... What issue isn't near and dear to her heart? But, this was perhaps the first issue that I become politically aware of and certainly the first one in which I became more pro-active. This is because our friends, the Tokarski's, have been fighting the highway for too many years now, in addition to which, the project hit too close to home when IN-DOT announced that our home and land was in the 2000 foot corridor where the new I-69 is planned.

Here is a current op-ed from the Indianapolis Star regarding the highway. I also included it for your convenience. Read it. Write a letter to your congressman. Pass it on.

My view: Jesse Kharbanda

Let's make Major Moves for 21st century

Gasoline prices have been rising for the past four quarters and political instability abroad probably will increase these prices even more. In response, Indiana is taking some foresighted steps to foster smart alternatives to petroleum, with Purdue University and IUPUI's Lugar Center at the forefront.

What Indiana must urgently do, though, is complement our effort at creating 21st-century fuels with 21st-century transportation infrastructure.

The most dramatic test Indiana faces in shaping its transportation future is how to use the precious $2.5 billion in public funds from the current administration's Major Moves program to address transportation challenges our state faces.

The leading two gubernatorial candidates want to use $700 million of these funds to build a new terrain I-69 highway between Evansville and Indianapolis. The Hoosier Environmental Council maintains that these funds would be much more wisely used for revitalizing our existing infrastructure and making a down payment for 21st-century intercity rail and bus systems.

Spending all of the Major Moves' $700 million allocation on I-69 builds at best one-third of the Indianapolis-to-Evansville highway. With dwindling federal highway dollars and widespread skepticism toward road privatization in Indiana, no ready solutions exist for funding the total $3 billion highway.

As rising gas prices push vehicle miles traveled downward, the new highway is unlikely to create a large net increase in economic activity in the region to justify its high and rising costs. The road is likely to primarily shift economic activity away from other transportation corridors in Southwest Indiana.

While Hoosiers remain concerned over the state's economic future, making this investment in I-69 will erode Southwest Indiana's impressive and economically valuable natural heritage of forests, cave systems and prime farmland -- wiping out irreplaceable resources.

The Hoosier Environmental Council's outlook is straightforward:

» Indiana's precious public funds should be stretched as far as possible.

» It is wiser to steward existing infrastructure than to build new and expensive roads.

» With an increasingly tight federal budget, we need to think about state level funding solutions for public transit.

» Southwest Indiana faces particularly challenging economic times, and merits public investment.

By upgrading I-70 and U.S. 41, we can achieve comparable economic development outcomes for Southwest Indiana at 50 percent of the estimated costs for I-69. Those savings could then be shifted to helping to finance an affordable, 21st-century rail component that terminates in Evansville, building on the proposed Muncie-Indianapolis-Bloomington commuter rail line.

The choice before political candidates now is whether or not Indiana will use I-69 Major Moves funds to embrace a truly new approach to transportation -- an approach that anticipates long-term trends for gas prices, and anticipates the need for our state to reduce its enormous carbon emissions.

This is our moment to realize a new vision for transportation. At this crossroads, the Hoosier Environmental Council is ready to work with all Hoosiers who desire a bold and foresighted approach to our transportation systems.

Indianapolis Star. July 20, 2008