Transit off the rails in Hamilton County

Originally posted to indystar.com on July 31, 2016 by Chris Sikich.

For more than a decade, Hamilton County communities pushed state lawmakers to provide the means to pay for transit lines from their sprawling suburbs to Downtown Indianapolis.

Leaders in Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville and Westfield thought they needed to ease traffic congestion along increasingly crowded corridors to connect workers with jobs Downtown.

But something changed after lawmakers gave communities those tools in 2014. Now, when Marion County votes this fall on whether to raise taxes to improve transit, it will go it alone. Hamilton County leaders, and voters, will watch to see what happens.

Some of their hesitance is financial. Communities once bullish on transit are no longer sure they want to ask voters to invest in expensive infrastructure.

For the full article, visit http://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/hamilton-county/2016/07/31/transit-off-rails-hamilton-county/87051638.