Poorly TIMED.
That is what many could say about Louisiana’s Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development, or TIMED, now in it’s 26th year of existence. The program was set up in 1989 with the aim to complete 16 road and bridge projects. To date, two are still in the works, and they may not be completed for another 10 years.
Voters approved a 4-cent tax to fund the TIMED program, but it has not been enough to support projects that were grossly underestimated in terms of cost. In the early 2000s, it was decided to throw bonds at the effort to accelerate progress. It hasn’t worked, as Louisiana has repeatedly raided its 16-cents-per-gallon tax used to fund routine work on roads and bridges to pay for TIMED.
“[TIMED] was ill-conceived,” said Sen. Dale Erdey, who is a longtime member of the state’s Senate Transportation Committee. “They told Joe Public that it would be a pay-as-you-go type of situation, and of course, that was totally off base.”
When Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jack Donahue took office in 2009 he immediately started asking questions about the TIMED program, and he found ineptness in the budget and planning process.
The two projects still left to be completed are both in the New Orleans area—S.R. 3241 and the Florida Avenue Bridge. There is already talk of scaling down the S.R. 3241 job, which is supposed to be a four-lane, 20-mile corridor.
