The closure of I-65 is shining a light on Indiana's aging infrastructure.
The road has been closed most of the month while crews work to repair a damaged bridge.
This comes at a time when the state is in the middle of a two-year study looking at ways to fund its roads and bridges and when Congress is working to craft a long term transportation funding bill.
"We have a good opportunity this fall to do a long-term federal highway bill, and we're going to have to find revenue to do that," says Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind. District 8, who is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "But tax reform looks like that is a good possibility. It will be multi-national tax reform — [it] doesn't increase taxes for our citizens and our state and potentially could create more revenue to get a good federal highway bill long term."
Federal funds make up a little more than half of Indiana's $1.8 billion transportation budget.
The federal highway fund has been underfunded for years, and in July, Congress delayed passing a long term solution.
The short-term bill shores up the federal highway trust fund through mid-December.
State lawmakers boosted funding for roads and bridges in 2013 by $200 million, but kept it flat in the most recent budget lawmakers approved this spring.
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, has said infrastructure will be the focus of the next two legislative sessions.