Study: Toll Road is untapped economic resource

The Indiana Toll Road remains one of the the region's great unexploited resources and is ripe for development if barriers to development can be removed, according to the first stage of a Ball State University study.

The study now is in the hands of a steering committee seeking to form an Indiana Toll Road Economic Development Corridor. The corridor aims to mimic success localities in other states have achieved along busy interstates, said Toll Road Oversight Board Vice Chairman Leigh Morris, a member of the committee.

"It was clear to me when we began this process that people had just ignored this as a huge transportation asset that could fuel development opportunities in our own backyard," Morris said.

Examples of corridors in other states that have proved successful in attracting development are the I-39 Logistics Corridor in Illinois, which stretches from Janesville, Wis., to Peru/LaSalle in Illinois, and the I-43 Corridor between Beloit and Green Bay in Wisconsin.

"The I-39 corridor wasn't well recognized in the Chicago area until we started marketing it," said Janyce Fadden, I-39 Logistics Corridor Association executive director.

In 2009-10, the last two-year cycle for which data is available, the I-39 Logistics Corridor added 3,230 jobs and booked more than 3.3 million square feet of commercial space, representing a 65 percent increase in value over the previous two years, according to information at the corridor's website.

The I-39 Logistics Corridor Association operates mainly as the marketing arm for localities and their economic development organizations, Fadden said. Economic development deals such as expansions or new companies moving in happen directly between developers, companies and local economic development organizations, she said.

Developing goals and the kind of organization that can best achieve them are next on the to-do list for the Indiana Toll Road Economic Development Corridor steering committee, Morris said. A meeting between developers, businesses, localities and other stakeholders in January will begin that process.

The Ball State study so far has identified more than a dozen opportunities the corridor group should explore. Among specific industries that may want to take advantage of the Toll Road are health care, tourism, technology and education, according to the study. Means of attracting new industries include better marketing of Toll Road assets as well as the creation of tax sharing and regional utility districts.

The study kicked off more than one year ago and grew out of efforts to unlock the economic development potential of the 157-mile road after the state transacted its $3.8 billion, 75-year lease of it in 2006.

The Ball State study cost $50,000 and is being paid for with a grant from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and private parties, Morris said.

Indiana Toll Road Concession Co., the road's private operator, is not directly involved in the Indiana Toll Road Economic Development Corridor effort but supports its goals, ITRCC spokeswoman Amber Kettring said.

"More local points of interest will increase travelers on the Toll Road, which in the end benefits us as well as the businesses themselves," Kettring wrote in an e-mail. "We're happy to be able to provide a safe route for those drivers going to and from the areas, and hope to assist in this development in any way possible."