1 billion over 8 years???? Im sure the collect more taxes than that.

Thoughts on which roads should go toll. My initial thought would some of the rural state routes like 32, but it seems unfair to punish the poorest parts of the state. Ohio 161 from Columbus to Newark might be a good one.

I wonder if companies collecting tolls for contributions to construction costs will be contributing to maintenance of the infrastructure. Would that be a given?

Could Ohio pay the feds back for say a mile of I-71 and put in toll booths? If so, that would be a great way to raise money for road maintenance.  For example, we could put a toll plaza north and south of Columbus on I-71, east and west of columbus on I-70, and south of Dayton on I-75 and between Toledo and Dayton on I-75.  Just six miles of interstate, where the state agrees to pay 100% of the maintenance costs in the mile  around each toll plaza. 

 

Would that work?  Or do we still need Congress to change the law to allow states to collect any tolls?

No portion of the Interstate Highway System may be tolled. While I-80 is shown on maps as part of the Turnpike, they only do that to make navigation easier. Same with I-77/64 and the WV Turnpike. I-71 would have to be decommissioned through Columbus and changed over to a toll road.

No portion of the Interstate Highway System may be tolled. While I-80 is shown on maps as part of the Turnpike, they only do that to make navigation easier. Same with I-77/64 and the WV Turnpike. I-71 would have to be decommissioned through Columbus and changed over to a toll road.

Actually many portions of the Interstate Highway system are tolled, (mostly because they're bridges, tunnels, or highways that charged tolls before they became interstates) but there has to be a reason to do so, and it must be approved by the FHWA.

Kasich is not one for playing by rules, so we shall see how he tries to do toll implementation...if he is actually serious about it.

No portion of the Interstate Highway System may be tolled. While I-80 is shown on maps as part of the Turnpike, they only do that to make navigation easier. Same with I-77/64 and the WV Turnpike. I-71 would have to be decommissioned through Columbus and changed over to a toll road.

Actually many portions of the Interstate Highway system are tolled, (mostly because they're bridges, tunnels, or highways that charged tolls before they became interstates) but there has to be a reason to do so, and it must be approved by the FHWA.

 

Which isn't making such approvals -- as evidenced recently by the FHWA's denial of PennDOT's request to make I-80 a toll road.

Kasich is not one for playing by rules, so we shall see how he tries to do toll implementation...if he is actually serious about it.

Which (the federal government) isn't making such approvals -- as evidenced recently by the FHWA's denial of PennDOT's request to make I-80 a toll road.

As usual, Kasich does not know wtf he is talking about.  He figures that there is no downside to creating controversy and pitting groups of Ohioans against each other.

 

Under a FHWA Pilot Program, there are a limited number of existing interstate highways that can be tolled. I believe there are a total of 6 or 8 slots in this program, which PA I-80 was trying for, without success. There are still slots available for a state to apply for.

Once it goes toll it will always be tolled.

Under a FHWA Pilot Program, there are a limited number of existing interstate highways that can be tolled. I believe there are a total of 6 or 8 slots in this program, which PA I-80 was trying for, without success. There are still slots available for a state to apply for.

 

Put me down as being in favor of changing the law to permit tolling all intercity sections of the interstate highway system with all tolls going toward maintenance of the interstate highway system.  Much better than using a portion of income taxes, which is what is happening now.

Rail, bus projects face lower chance of state funds

Tuesday, May 10, 2011  03:07 AM

By Robert Vitale

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The Ohio Department of Transportation has erased talk of an "integrated network" of roads, rails and other modes of travel in the Kasich administration's first rewrite of policies that guide state-funding decisions.

 

A 34-page proposal released yesterday for the group that prioritizes transportation projects across Ohio instead would emphasize those with economic-development potential and funding that's already lined up by local governments.

 

"It's not necessarily out," ODOT spokesman David Rose said of rail and bus and other non-highway projects embraced by Republican Gov. John Kasich's predecessor, Democrat Ted Strickland.

Read more at: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/05/10/rail-bus-projects-likely-to-be-lower-odot-funding-priority.html?sid=101

That language should actually improve funding chances for rail, due to its untapped economic development potential.

 

I guess the question is: who gets to determine the expected economic impact of a given project?

That didn't help the Cincinnati streetcar which its economic impact showed huge development potential. But ODOT felt it was a local project that could succeed as well as with trolley buses.

 

ODOT's staff under the director, the chair of the Transportation Review Advisory Council, does the analysis of economic development impacts of a given project. So, far the next few years, that means if a project requires more asphalt, it probably means economic development to Wray's Robots.

Okay, so the answer is Wray.

 

Honestly, I don't think this matters anyhow. The powers-that-be clearly have an agenda, and they will do what they will do. Defunding the streetcar proved that.

Under a FHWA Pilot Program, there are a limited number of existing interstate highways that can be tolled. I believe there are a total of 6 or 8 slots in this program, which PA I-80 was trying for, without success. There are still slots available for a state to apply for.

Do you have any more material on that?  I would like to know.  thanks

This?

 

http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tolling_pricing/interstate_rr.htm

Thanks.  I read several of the pages.  There are three slots. 

 

They should just raise the fuel tax, IMO

There are three slots. 

 

Yeah, and only one of the three slots is still available.  It doesn't seem like many states have applied for a slot, so I'm kind of surprised I-80 in PA got turned down, unless (1) they're getting picky since there's only one slot left or (2) they just didn't want both major east-west interstates in PA to be toll roads.

That language should actually improve funding chances for rail, due to its untapped economic development potential.

 

I guess the question is: who gets to determine the expected economic impact of a given project?

 

Wray and ODOT are rigging the game in favor more highways. They were embarrassed that a lowly streetcar beat out their roads as the highest ranked project in the state by TRAC. Forget anything else.

There are three slots. 

 

Yeah, and only one of the three slots is still available.  It doesn't seem like many states have applied for a slot, so I'm kind of surprised I-80 in PA got turned down, unless (1) they're getting picky since there's only one slot left or (2) they just didn't want both major east-west interstates in PA to be toll roads.

Number 2

“Where Ohio Needs to Go: A Statewide Conversation on Transportation Equity & Federal Policy”

 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1

6:00pm-8:00pm

Statehouse Atrium, Columbus

Light reception to follow

 

Transportation is a critical link to opportunity—connecting us to jobs, schools, housing, health care, and grocery stores. But for many, quality transportation options are unaffordable, unreliable, or nonexistent. On June 1, join community leaders and elected officials from across Ohio in a discussion about how federal transportation policies and investments can better advance economic and social equity. RSVP here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGlkZWk3dXRHNTY5Y0JhNjhldm1SRGc6MQ.

 

Hosting organizations include All Aboard Ohio, Amalgamated Transit Union, The Amos Project, The Kirwan Institute for Race and Ethnicity, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Ohio Higher Education Rail Network Institute, Ohio Olmstead Taskforce, Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council, PolicyLink, Policy Matters Ohio, and Transport Workers Union.

This is relevant to the above posting. So why do we need better public transit?....

 

Some unemployed pick jobless benefits over costly commutes

By Randy Tucker, Staff Writer

11:26 PM Monday, May 16, 2011

 

DAYTON  The high cost of going to work has led some displaced Ohio workers to choose not to, instead relying on their weekly unemployment benefits, which can pay more than many of the jobs available to them.

 

“I’ve been looking for a job for more than a year, and I’ve only had two decent offers. They were both in Cincinnati,” said Lannie Scott, a former administrative assistant from Dayton who lost her job when the landscape company she worked for shut down because of the sour economy. “I would have spent most of my paycheck on gas and actually ended up losing money.”

 

Scott is among the fraction of unemployed Ohioans receiving maximum benefits, ranging from $387 a week for singles with no dependents to $470 a week for someone with one or two dependents, and $524 for someone with three or more dependents. One economist estimated that 1 percent of all unemployed Ohioans receive the maximum benefit.

 

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/some-unemployed-pick-jobless-benefits-over-costly-commutes-1162207.html

 

Ohio Highway Patrol conversations were moved here:

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,25879.msg561545.html#msg561545

 

Please reserve this thread for ODOT discussions. OHP is not part of ODOT, but a part of the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

You’re Invited!

 

“Where Ohio Needs to Go: A Statewide Conversation on Transportation Equity & Federal Policy”

 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1

6:00pm-8:00pm

Statehouse Atrium, Columbus

Light reception to follow

 

Transportation is a critical link to opportunity—connecting us to jobs, schools, housing, health care, and grocery stores. But for many, quality transportation options are unaffordable, unreliable, or nonexistent. On June 1, join community leaders and elected officials from across Ohio in a discussion about how federal transportation policies and investments can better advance economic and social equity. RSVP here.

 

Please note: the event will be streamed live (and supposedly available for later viewing) at Ohio Transportation Equity

 

Hosting organizations include All Aboard Ohio, Amalgamated Transit Union, The Amos Project, The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Ohio BlueGreen Alliance, The Ohio Commission on African-American Males, Ohio Environmental Council, Ohio Higher Education Rail Network Institute, Ohio Olmstead Taskforce, Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council, PolicyLink, Policy Matters Ohio, ProgressOhio, and Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO.

 

Sent by The Leadership Conference Education Fund, 1629 K Street NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 - (202) 466-3311

^Did anyone attend?  How did it go?

Here is part of an article from a subscription-only news service....

 

Disabled, Elderly, Join Mass Transit Rally at Ohio Statehouse

Paul Healey – June 2, 2011 | Hannah News Service – Ohio’s Newswire

 

The Ohio Statehouse hosted a discussion Wednesday on the state of transportation funding in Ohio and the nation, drawing input from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and transit labor representatives including the Transportation Workers Union of America.

 

Drawing a diverse group of advocates for the elderly, the disabled and the poor, the "Statewide Conversation on Transportation Equity & Federal Policy" addressed the disproportionate impact of public transit on minorities and other disadvantaged groups.

 

"How can enforcement of civil rights laws break down barriers in our public transportation system?" Brown asked in a taped presentation to the Statehouse Atrium crowd.

 

Executive Director Samuel Gresham Jr. of Ohio Commission on African American Males picked up on that concern. "Transportation investment in Ohio has produced an inhospitable landscape for low-income people, people with disabilities and the elderly...." he said. "This is the civil rights dilemma for Ohio: Our laws purport to level the playing field, but our transportation choices have effectively barred millions of people from getting across it."

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.rotundacollection.com/Login/Index.html

 

 

After I shared the Transportation 4 America blog posting "Throwing grandma off the train and under the bus" (see: http://t4america.org/blog/2011/06/15/throwing-grandma-off-the-train-and-under-the-bus/) this morning, someone shared the following with me this afternoon.....

___________

 

A portion of a recent research study ( http://www.waynefcfc.org/PDFs/FINAL%202010CWHRC%20Agency-Facility%20Survey%20analysis.pdf) found that TRANSPORTATION is an extreme-to-large barrier to successful reentry back into the community for former offenders. Results of the study revealed lack of transportation was (statistically) significantly more a barrier than (1) lack of contact w/family during period of incarceration, (2) lack of housing to meet the needs of offenders who are homeless, (3) availability of affordable housing, (4) lack of willingness to rent to former offenders, and significantly more a barrier than, (5) stigma.

 

So much material is out there to underscore the need and bolster the cause for mobility for all. Sometimes there's almost too much information!

The area around the halfway house, drug/alcohol rehab and sheriff's office complex on Alum Creek Drive is a bombed out suburban wasteland with terrible mobility for those on foot.

Appearing this week at the Columbus Metropolitan Club......

 

Wed. July 27, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. @ ACC, Regular Wednesday Forum

All Roads Lead to ODOT featuring Jerry Wray, Director, the Ohio Department of Transportation. Building and maintaining roads, bridges and crucial transportation infrastructure is all about the Benjamins; challenges and triumphs on the paths ahead.

With support from: PRIME Engineering * ms consultants, inc.

 

See more at:

http://www.columbusmetroclub.org/Default.aspx?pageId=49313&eventId=342280&EventViewMode=EventDetails

 

Squarest use of the term "All About the Benjamins" that I've seen.

Kasich shuns buses, trains

Published: Sun, June 26, 2011 @ 12:00 a.m.

By Ken Prendergast

Special to The Vindicator

 

Our dear governor sure has lots of interesting things to say. For example, he said he wants Ohioans to get on his bus or he’ll run them over with it. Odd thing is, Gov. John Kasich doesn’t like buses; doesn’t like trains much either, as we all know. He doesn’t seem to like any alternatives to driving in Ohio, except one.

 

The April 16, 2011, Dayton Daily News reported that the governor used the state’s planes for 16 in-state, and four out-of-state trips in his first 81 days in office. It took his predecessor 13 months to equal Kasich’s plane usage.

 

For advocates of better trains and transit, that wasn’t the most telling part of that article. It was yet another memorable Kasich quote: “There is no doubt about it — I can’t get to all these places if I’m not able to fly.”

 

That begs a question: how do the rest of us travel between Ohio cities without private planes — or for that matter, without trains or buses? “Drive” is the officially sanctioned answer within the marbled halls of the State House where your government recently approved a two-year Ohio Department of Transportation budget in which 99 percent of transportation tax dollars goes to roads and highways.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/jun/26/kasich-shuns-buses-trains/?newswatch

Great op-ed Ken.

Agreed. Even the comments (so far) are positive for rail/mass transit.

Thanks!

I remember the Republicans complaining that Strickland used the airplane in an inefficient manner. Yet Kasich uses it 4X as much.

Congrats, Ken. I sent your article to my mom and she forwarded it to her mass email list saying what a great article it is, and how everyone in Ohio should read it. (Bonus: Many of her friends are Ohio Republicans!)

 

I send her stuff all the time, and never/rarely get such an enthusiastic reception.

Great! I hope more people will share it.

Post it on Facebook!

Facebook limits posts to ~400 characters, so one has to post a link to the Vindicator instead. 

Hey, it's more than Twitter allows you!!

It's posted on All Aboard Ohio's Facebook page. And if you haven't friended that page, whaddya waiting for??

I encourage you all to watch "The State of Ohio" this weekend on a PBS station of your choice.  Director Wray of ODOT is a guest of Karen Kasler, and see if the conversation gets around to transit and light rail, TODs etc blah blah.

What, so the TV can make my blood boil one again?

Here's an opportunity for Ohio's drive-or-die transportation policy to change....

 

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21013335/1046925446/name/Press%20Release-%20Workforce%20Development.pdf

 

For Immediate Release:                                                    Contact: Sean Chichelli

August 19, 2011                                                                                    (614) 466-2179

 

Rep. Derickson to Lead Study Committee on Ohio’s Workforce Development

 

COLUMBUS—Speaker of the Ohio House William G. Batchelder (R-Medina) recently appointed State

Representative  Tim Derickson (R-Oxford) to serve as chairman of the  Workforce Development

Study Committee, a bipartisan committee that will solicit feedback from Ohioans to  make Ohio a

national leader in developing a well-trained and educated workforce.

 

“There is nothing more critical to Ohio’s economy than a well prepared and educated workforce,”

Derickson said.

 

Rep. Derickson will be joined by Representatives Nan Baker (R-Westlake), Richard Adams (R-Troy),

Andy Thompson (R-Marietta), Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland), Nancy Garland (D-New Albany), Lou

Gentile (D-Steubenville), and Roland Winburn (D-Dayton) in serving on this committee, which will

meet throughout the summer and early autumn at various locations throughout the state.

 

The committee is scheduled to meet at the following times and locations:

 

++ August 31st at 10 a.m. in Columbus (Ohio Statehouse, room 116)

++ September  14th at 4 p.m. in Elyria (Lorain County Community College, Stocker Center

Cinema Hall)

++ September 15th at 10 a.m. in Bowling Green (Bowling Green State University, Bowen Student

Union)

++ September 28th at 4 p.m. in Middletown (University of Miami – Middletown, Miriam G. Knoll

Community Center, room 142, Johnston Hall)

++ September 29th at 10 a.m. in Athens (Ohio University, Amanda J. Cunningham University

Center)

 

The Workforce Development Committee will allow the people of Ohio to have a chance to speak to

the Ohio House of Representatives on the state’s efforts to create a competitive workforce.

 

Interested parties may notify the committee of their intent to attend a particular hearing or submit comments by emailing [email protected].

 

Upon completing the necessary research, the committee intends to put forth an executive summary

and possible recommendations for the Legislature.

 

-30-

Seamless regional transit, freight system decades off

High costs and public perception hold it back

 

By Kareem Elgazzar

3:01 AM Monday, September 26, 2011

Editor’s note: This is the third of a 
five-part series on ideas that will 
transform the region.

 

Improving the transportation infrastructure is at the center of various economic and political agendas nationwide.

 

From President Barack Obama’s $447 billion American Jobs Act, which would set aside money for transportation infrastructure projects, to the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments 2040 transportation plan, improving the infrastructure is important for the region to grow and prosper, leaders say.

 

Local leaders say as the eventual merge of the Cincinnati-Dayton metropolitan area continues, improving transportation needs along the main road arteries is something that needs to be done to transform the region.

 

Read more at: http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/middletown-news/seamless-regional-transit-freight-system-decades-off-1259427.html

Redirected from the Cincy Streetcar thread.........

 

^Kasich revoked $52M in State funds. The Feds awarded a $25M Urban Circulator Grant to the City.

 

They're actually state-administered federal transportation funds, which the state wants spent on roads instead. Ohio is not allowed by its Constitution to spend state gas tax dollars collected from road/highway users on anything other than roads/highways.

 

FYI, although some state gas taxes -- about $40 million to $50 million per year -- are collected from activities that have nothing to do with roads/highways such as landscaping, construction, farming, recreational vehicles, etc. and could be used for trains and transit if we had a ruling from the Ohio Attorney General saying its was legal and a DOT director who was not previously a lobbyist for the asphalt industry! But all it might take is a lawsuit from a disabled rights activist or low-income advocacy group to require that ODOT spent a portion of its budget on transit that's equal to the percentage of households without cars (8.5%).

 

If ODOT was forced to do that, it would be spending $250 million per year on transit, not $17 million. The $40-50M in non-highway state gas taxes could then leverage up to an 80 percent federal match for transit.

 

Federal passenger rail funding accepted by the following Midwest states (does not include substantial state, local and private funding for rail)....

 

•  Illinois - $1,734,866,660

•  Iowa - $248,709,080

•  Indiana - $71,364,980

•  Michigan - $400,732,595

•  Minnesota - $45,600,000

•  Missouri - $50,900,300

•  Ohio - $0

•  Wisconsin - $34,055,437

 

Total: $2,586,229,052

 

Maybe Ohio's leaders are just smarter than everyone else's? Try to travel safely this holiday weekend in the absence of safer and less stressful 79-mph 3C trains, due in part to the opposition from the editors at the Columbus Dispatch, plus others who get paid to keep you from having more/better travel choices....

 

There’s no easy way to travel for Thanksgiving

Whichever direction you’re going, expect delays

By  Robert Vitale

The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday November 23, 2011 9:38 AM

 

You’re ready to hit the road for the holiday.

 

Can’t wait to get away from all this construction, right? You probably think it’ll be smooth sailing as soon as you leave Columbus.

 

Not so fast — and we mean that literally.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/11/23/theres-no-easy-way-to-go.html

States often spend on 'oops' charges

 

WASHINGTON — The federal government spends about $40 billion a year on highway construction yet for the vast majority of projects does not track how many are over budget, how much goes toward cost overruns, or whether the record is getting better or worse.

 

The result is a patchwork pattern of planning lapses and design errors that sends some states back for more money again and again, a Gannett investigation shows.

 

The government stepped up scrutiny of “major projects,” defined as greater than $500 million, after Boston’s disastrous Big Dig. That road and tunnel project, completed in 2007 after almost two decades, ran more than $12 billion over budget.

 

But most projects aren’t subject to the tighter rules. In 2011, just 87 of 136,000 federal highway projects qualified as “major.” They accounted for $1.6 billion in allocated funds, or less than 5 percent of all federal highway investment.

 

Read more at: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111211/NEWS/312120003