Indiana’s formulas rely on measures like road mileage, population, and vehicle registrations, but they do not fully reflect the cost of maintaining complex, dense, heavily traveled, multi-lane urban roads. A mile of six-lane arterial pavement is not the same as a mile of low-traffic rural road — but funding formulas treat them that way.

The state has offered Indianapolis a path to a growing match starting at $50 million a year in road funding beginning in 2027, but the city must provide a new local match that grows over time with it. If Indianapolis misses the required match, Proposal 192 says the city becomes ineligible for the match in later years.

This is not a blank check. Proposal 192 requires revenue from the excise surtax and wheel tax must be used only to fix the roads. The state placed restrictions that prevent matching funds from being used for sidewalks, bike lanes, road right-sizing, greenways, and trails.

A pothole may look like a street problem, but it quickly becomes a household-budget problem: tires, rims, suspensions, alignments, delays, and safety risks. AAA has estimated that pothole damage costs U.S. drivers billions annually.

Buses, semitrailers, tractors, trailers, trucks, and other vehicles subject to the wheel tax would pay the higher $240 fee. That matters because stress on the pavement is equal to the axle-weight cubed. Heavier axle loads cause disproportionate pavement wear.