The future of Indiana's business environment was recently the subject of a survey among leading CEO's in the state. Specifically, what makes Indiana competitive and which issues impact businesses the most were the focus of the “The State of Our Business” report.
The competitive factors that impact businesses already in Indiana, as well as those considering locating here, range from health care costs to the state’s education system. An important feature of this report that deserves emphasis is transportation.
Over the past several years, economic development officials have recognized the growing importance of transportation to recruiting and retaining businesses, as has every other state. As our nation's infrastructure has aged and our demand for capacity has grown each year to the breaking point, "the state of our transportation" has grown in importance. Businesses consider the transportation capabilities of a state when locating a new business or moving an existing business. Just like you and me, businesses don’t benefit from congestion and will avoid locating, or staying, where congestion is bad and getting worse.
Congestion not only impacts the more apparent aspects of business models such as unreliable delivery times for materials and inventory or unpredictable and growing transportation costs produced from delay, its impacts their employees too. Inadequate transportation can impact our ability to keep businesses competitive in our state and serve as a deterrent for new business locating here. The stunning amount of congestion, will continue to impact the nation’s economy, business climate, and quality of life, but Indiana is working to get ahead of the growing transportation problem.
The state of Indiana understands the impact of inadequate transportation on us all and are working to avoid those impacts. The Indiana Department of Transportation (DOT) works, using economic analysis tools, demand management tools and business impact models, to understand and anticipate our state’s needs in advance. These tools, and many other efforts, help the state understand where and how to solve transportation problems before they harm our economy and quality of life.
While these tools and analysis provide understanding into the corrosive impacts inadequate transportation can produce, they only have real meaning when their conclusions are implemented. Major Moves was an important step toward implementing solutions, and it and efforts like it must continue. Continued vigilance of our transportation system is the only way to preserve our transportation system’s ability to serve our changing and growing economy. We will keep the nation’s second largest FedEx hub, located at the Indianapolis International Airport, the second largest Toyota vehicle production facility in North America, located in Princeton, and the new Honda plant in Greensburg, if we continue the policies, programs and business support that attracted these companies to Indiana.
Because of our central location, Indiana is positioned to benefit economically from improvements to our transportation system. As the importance of reliable delivery times grows, transportation logistics and distribution businesses are growing. Our geographic location is attractive to these new businesses, and our efforts to address our transportation challenges can help place Indiana as a leader in this growing industry. For example, did you know that 724 million tons of freight travel through Indiana annually, making it 5th in the rankings of states in volume of commercial freight? Or that Indiana has a 60% higher employment rate in warehousing and storage establishments relative to the nation's average? We also have twice the national average employment among long distance trucking on top of a workforce of over 250,000 logistics employees.
Transportation is an economic driver for Indiana. We are within a one day's drive of 2/3 of this nation’s population. This is attractive for manufacturers, logistics companies, transportation and distribution companies, retail distribution (think Walmart), and others. The business of transportation is an economic reality for us as the statistics above prove.
We must understand our transportation issues, agree to spend the money needed to address them, and continue to fine tune our transportation policies and expenditures through an understanding of our economy and where we fit in the national economy. We ignore the importance of transportation at our own peril.
This publication is intended for general information purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. The reader must consult with legal counsel to determine how laws or decisions discussed herein apply to the reader's specific circumstances.
Graham Hill is CEO of Ice Miller Strategies in Washington, DC. He can be reached at: 202-824-8660 or graham.hill@icemillerstrategies.com. Dennis Faulkenberg is a member of Ice Miller's public affairs group. He can be reached at: 317-236-2168 or dennis.faulkenberg@icemiller.com. Dennis Faulkenberg is not licensed to practice law in any state and does not provide legal services.
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