Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun is happy state officials want to invest in interstate 70.
He’s just not happy about how they plan to do it. The state wants to fix the two lanes and add a third. Governor Mike Braun has said he wants to pay for it by charging tolls.
Sakbun said the state needs to explain why all three lanes need to be tolled.
“Why can we not explore different concepts, like in Florida, like in Pennsylvania even, where not every lane is toll, give people the choice, the option to be on a fast pass, reduced traffic toll lane,” Sakbun said.
Read more: Terre Haute's Sakbun on dwindling revenue, I-70 tolling, dead crows
He said if all three lanes are tolled, the city will see an increase in truck traffic.
“Local taxpayers are going to get stuck footing the bill, repaving those roads because of bad state policy,” Sakbun said.
He said it’s early in the process and state transportation officials have agreed to keep up discussions.
