This story has been updated to correct the town of McCordsville’s connection with a lobbyist. Town officials were exploring whether the project would make a worthwhile submission to a federal funding program, and if other entities would be willing to share in the cost of a lobbyist to advocate for the project. No approval from the town had been granted to hire the lobbyist.
McCORDSVILLE — A solution for a traffic-clogging railroad crossing along one of the county’s busiest roads may be up to Congress to decide.
The town of McCordsville and other stakeholders are considering pursuing a revamped project-funding process making its way through Washington, D.C., for backing as leaders seek a solution for the crossing on Mt. Comfort Road near Broadway Street in the heart of town. Leaders are leaning toward an underpass beneath the railroad tracks, estimated at over $40 million.
To take advantage of the new mechanism, they’d need to get on a list of projects compiled by their congressman, and ideally, senators, before being included in next year’s federal spending bill.
They may enlist the help of a lobbyist, whose challenge will include convincing those in Washington who are resistant to the new funding practice.
A train makes its way along the tracks dividing McCordsville an average of nearly once an hour, lasting an average of nearly three minutes, pushing back traffic on Mt. Comfort Road and Broadway Street.
It continues to be a concern for leaders, who are watching the Mt. Comfort Corridor draw a lot of development.
McCordsville hired an engineering firm last year to help evaluate three possible solutions for the crossing: a bridge, an underpass and widening Mt. Comfort Road to six lanes north and south of the tracks.
The alternate surface crossing would alleviate traffic built up by trains quicker than the current format, but leaves the tracks as a barrier. It would also call for the town to negotiate right of way on 41 different property parcels.
The bridge would require an extensive land grab as well in order to achieve the parameters the Indiana Department of Transportation wants. While Mt. Comfort Road is a county road, the project would affect Broadway Street, which is also State Road 67, requiring INDOT approval.
That left the underpass option scoring the highest.
An estimated cost of $40.8 million, however, doesn’t leave a lot of funding options, even from bigger sources like the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization.
“It’s not a small ask,” said McCordsville town manager Tonya Galbraith at a Hancock County Redevelopment Commission meeting earlier this month. “We know we can’t get $40 million locally. We know we can’t get that much money from the MPO, so we’re just looking for any source we can, and this one just kind of availed itself to us.”
She was referring to Democrats’ push in Congress to revive earmarks, the much-maligned practice where lawmakers direct federal spending to a specific project or institution back home.
Earmarking was linked to corruption in the 2000s, leading to an outcry and their banishment in both the House and Senate. But many in Congress say the ban has gone too far, ceding the “power of the purse” to party leaders and the executive branch and giving lawmakers less incentive to work with members of the other party on major legislation.
Democratic appropriators in the House saw a solution and proposed a revamped process allowing lawmakers to submit public requests for “community project funding” in federal spending bills. To guard against graft, the process includes safeguards to prevent conflicts of interest.
House Republicans agreed last month to lift their decade-long ban on earmarks through a secret ballot vote while the Senate GOP decided on Wednesday to uphold their, Politico reported. The ban is largely symbolic, however, and doesn’t prevent individuals senators from seeking earmarks.
Under requirements House Democrats spelled out, a maximum of 10 project funding requests will be considered per representative.
A request for thoughts from U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana, on McCordsville’s plans and the new funding process indicates the town may have its work cut out for it.
“Congressman Greg Pence has made constituent services his top priority since being elected to Congress,” a statement from his office said. “He has worked with organizations and communities around the 6th District on all types of funding requests and will continue to do so. However, this new program the Democrat majority in Congress has cooked up smells more like the earmark era of pet projects and pork barrel spending. Until the stench is clear on this one, Congressman Pence is a No.”
That’s not stopping his constituents from trying, or even from feeling optimistic about their chances, however. McCordsville is exploring hiring Andrew Coats, a senior policy adviser with Hall Render Killian Heath and Lyman in Washington, D.C., for $6,250 a month for an initial three-month engagement to assist with the endeavor. The county redevelopment commission, Hancock Regional Hospital and NineStar Connect would share in the cost as well.
“The No. 1 priority would be getting Rep. Pence on board and having him list this as a priority,” Coats said at the recent redevelopment commission meeting.
After members of the House of Representatives create their lists of up to 10 projects and rank them, they submit them to the appropriations committee.
“I think there’s obviously good odds that we can make this a priority with Congressman Pence,” Coats said. “I know he has a good relationship with a lot of the folks on this call, and given it’s a local project of importance for him, I can’t see any reason why this wouldn’t be near the top of his list.”
Coats said he’d plan to set up meetings with U.S. Sens. Mike Braun and Todd Young of Indiana as well.
“The second goal would be to get Sen. Young, Sen. Braun to make this one of their top 10 priorities,” Coats said. “That’s obviously going to be a little more difficult, given they have a whole state competing.”
Braun’s feelings toward the new funding process are similar to Pence’s, however, which he indicated by signing a letter last month against the proposal.
Coats said next steps would include getting a delegation letter from supporting members of Congress to the appropriations committee, buffered by state and local support for the project, and then brief committee staff.
The deadline for House members to submit project lists is currently the end of the month, Coats said, adding the Senate’s will likely be a month or two later.
The end of the federal government’s fiscal year is Sept. 30, so the 2022 spending bill and whether McCordsville’s project is included should be finalized by November or early December at the latest, he continued.
“The question’s going to come down to whether the committee gets this included in the final bill, and that’s hard to tell,” Coats said. “A lot of that comes down to relationships that the senators and Congressman Pence will have with the committee.”
The county redevelopment commission agreed to cover more than half of Coats’ initial costs.
“We feel very confident that this will receive a lot of attention, and hopefully get on a prioritized list,” said Steve Vail, a member of the commission.
Steve Long, president and CEO of Hancock Health and Hancock Regional Hospital, told the Daily Reporter that the most important arterial road the county has in the coming years is Mt. Comfort Road.
The hospital has three campuses off it — at U.S. 52, Interstate 70 and in McCordsville. The hospital also owns significant acreage around its U.S. 52 and I-70 campuses, where it plans to draw further developments.
Plans for dozens of large developments have been announced along and near the corridor over the last couple years, including an Amazon warehouse and an enormous Walmart fulfillment center.
“We feel it’s important to make that road as functional as it can possibly be, and the biggest impediment to that right now is how do you get across the railroad tracks in McCordsville,” Long said.
Michael Burrow, CEO of NineStar Connect, told the Daily Reporter in an email that the non-profit utility cooperative is happy to help McCordsville as well.
“Given that the fastest-growing segment of our membership lives in the McCordsville-southern Fishers areas, we believe supporting efforts to improve the traffic flow greatly enhances the quality of life and place in that community and will in the future help to further support the economic growth that will be coming to this area,” Burrow said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
