Ohio Turnpike Bonds Accelerate Road Projects

Tom Warne Report, 5 August 2013

Associated Press – July 29, 2013

TOLEDO – Transportation projects that would likely have waited another decade for funding to come available across the state of Ohio are now preparing to break ground right away. This boost for highway and bridge projects is the result of Gov. John Kasich’s plan to use the Ohio Turnpike to raise funds for road construction. The state will sell bonds to begin 27 projects over the next two years in the northern part of the state. Another 14 projects in central and southern Ohio will also be possible with the available cash, which brings the total to $3 billion in road projects over the next six years, Kasich said.

“The projects are all high-priority projects for each of the regions,” said Greg Murphy, chief of staff for the Ohio Department of Transportation. “Some [of the projects regions have] been waiting on for decades.”

The state announced in 2012 that it would be forced to shelve or delay nearly three dozen multimillion road projects planned for the coming years.Leasing the turnpike will effectively erase the state’s $1.6 billion highway deficit.

The list of projects ranges from widening several interstate highways to rebuilding several congested interchanges and will reach all parts of the state. Work on the majority of the 41 projects will begin in 2014 or the next year.

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