TRAFFIC COVERAGE
Online: Find out where other construction zones are in the Miami Valley, watch traffic cameras and find out where the cheap gas is on our new online traffic page at WHIO.com
On Twitter: Get the latest local traffic updates at @WHIOtraffic.
On the radio: Traffic updates throughout the day at News 95.7 FM and AM 1290. Also, listen at 7:15 a.m. Mondays for a look ahead at the week in construction areas to watch.
DIG DEEPER ONLINE
Compare Ohio highway spending to other states in our interactive graphic at MyDaytonDailyNews.com
BY THE NUMBERS
$478 billion: Cost of 6-year program proposed by President Obama to pay for highway, transit and infrastructure upgrades
$3 billion: Cost to upgrade bridge carrying I-75, I-71 across Ohio River near Cincinnati.
$150 million: Cost to rebuild Interstate 75 through downtown Dayton
$145 million: Cost of 7-year mondernization of I-75, I-70 interchange.
2,242 : Number of Ohio bridges that are structurally unsafe.
DIG DEEPER ONLINE
Compare Ohio highway spending to other states in our interactive graphic at MyDaytonDailyNews.com
BY THE NUMBERS
$478 billion: Cost of 6-year program proposed by President Obama to pay for highway, transit and infrastructure upgrades
$3 billion: Cost to upgrade bridge carrying I-75, I-71 across Ohio River near Cincinnati.
$150 million: Cost to rebuild Interstate 75 through downtown Dayton
$145 million: Cost of 7-year mondernization of I-75, I-70 interchange.
2,242 : Number of Ohio bridges that are structurally unsafe.
With money to fix crumbling bridges and highways declining, states such as Ohio are proposing new tolls, taxes, fees and even partnerships with private businesses to repair a road system historically reliant on fuel taxes that no longer provide enough money to cover costs.
The total amount of money available to states from the Federal Highway Trust Fund has declined 3.5 percent during the five-year period ending in 2013.
The shortfall has led to rougher roads requiring more frequent, short-term repairs, suspect bridges and jammed commuter routes that simply have more vehicles than the roads were designed to carry, research by this newspaper for a national project with the Associated Press shows.
With all the highly visible construction projects underway locally and across southwest Ohio, many may think there’s plenty of money available for major projects. Some current and recent area projects include:
* The ongoing $150 million rebuild of Interstate 75 through downtown Dayton;
* The Austin Pike Interchange project near the Warren-Montgomery County borders was built for around $50 million recently;
* Interstate 70 in Clark County has been widened to six lanes in some areas. But there still is no set time for when the remaining section of the project will be complete. Contractors are scheduled to have the first phase of the widening plan done by November;
* In 2009, the seven-year, $145 million modernization of the Interstate 70/I-75 interchange was completed.
Federal money to Ohio down 8% since 2008
Transportation funding increases could be on the agenda in as many as one-third of the state legislatures this year. That comes after roughly one-fourth of the states increased transportation taxes or fees during the past two years.
Partnering with private businesses, offering sponsorships along highways and selling $1 billion in Ohio Turnpike bonds are among ways Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s administration has worked to boost transportation revenue amid lagging federal outlays.
Government data shows Ohio’s spending from the federal highway trust fund fell nearly 8 percent from 2008 to 2013. The downward trend is widespread among states.
The state proposals stand in stark contrast to the inaction in Congress, where a temporary funding patch is scheduled to expire in May and lawmakers have been at odds over a long-term highway plan.
The inaction has been frustrating for top state highway officials like Jerry Wray, Director of the Ohio Department of Transportation.
“We need to know what resources we have to work with. Then we can map out the future and what we need to get,” Wray said.
The annual amount available to states from the Federal Highway Trust Fund has hovered around $40 billion since 2007. Even though total state and federal road funding exceeded the general rate of inflation over the past decade, the pace has tapered off in recent years as the amount coming from the federal government declined.
Finding ways to pay for projects
In Cincinnati, the Brent Spence Bridge that carries Interstates 75 and 71 across the Ohio River needs a $3 billion upgrade because it's deteriorating quickly under twice the daily traffic load for which it was built.
The cost estimate is about the entire Ohio Department of Transportation’s annual bill for highway construction.
The most likely solution to pay for it is to make it a toll bridge — the only toll road in the state not counting the Ohio Turnpike. Kasich and Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear seem to agree on that as a solution.
Other huge projects in Ohio need funding but it often seems that a national fix via Congress and the White House isn’t possible. Ohio state motor fuel tax revenue has been flat since 2010 at $1.8 billion.
Brian Martin, Executive Director of the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC), calls highway funding a three-legged stool with federal, state, and local money. Local funding is in as dire a situation as federal funding, while the state has been able to make up for much of the funding gap with bond sales.
“No communities want to increase their road or property tax amounts to cover their shortfalls at this time. So, they either defer their maintenance projects, purchase less salt, or pursue grants through the state public works commission or MVRPC,” Martin said. Necessary projects are being delayed from five to seven years, he estimates.
The state is now experimenting with alternative funding ideas, including using private equity as a component in some projects. For example, the Portsmouth Bypass should begin construction this summer. It’s to be a 16-mile, four-lane limited access highway from U.S. 23 north of Lucasville to U.S. 52 near Sciotoville.
At $429 million, it’s the largest project in the history of the Ohio Department of Transportation and the state’s first public-private highway partnership. ODOT said it includes various forms of private financing such as the issuance of Private Activity Bonds, funds through the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan program and private equity.
The state has a contract to make payments to the Portsmouth Gateway Group, the organization financing the project over the length of the contract, which is about 35 years. The group will be responsible for operations, maintenance and rehabilitation work. ODOT will handle ice and snow removal.
Roads, bridges nationwide in need of major repairs
About 20 percent of the nation’s 900,000 miles of interstates and major roads are in need of resurfacing or reconstruction, according to federal data analyzed by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
A quarter of America’s 600,000 bridges are in such poor condition that they are rated as structurally deficient or are considered to be functionally obsolete because they have narrow lanes or other features not designed for today’s traffic.
The Association estimates that inspection records show that of 27,015 Ohio bridges, 2,242 or eight percent, are structurally unsafe. Among the most frequently traveled deficient bridges are the Western Hills Viaduct in Cincinnati, the Interstate 70 ramp to I-270 northbound in Columbus and the I-670 eastbound to I-71 northbound, also in Columbus.
In Montgomery County there are 49 bridges in that condition; in Clark 17; in Darke 7; in Greene 6; Miami 27; in Preble 54.
Perhaps the most prominent local bridge in need of replacement is the Third Street Bridge in downtown Dayton. It should have been replaced years ago and has been kept usable with patches. It underwent emergency repairs in 2010 and 2011 after a section of the deck buckled.
Construction on a new bridge is scheduled to begin in February 2019 and finish in October 2020 at a cost of $19 million. The bridge should have been replaced in 2005, said Montgomery County Engineer Paul Gruner.
It’s not as though the patching is cheap, either. The county has spent $1 million making the patches to keep the bridge safe. The county doesn’t have a dedicated bridge and road replacement levy.
The County Engineers Association of Ohio is lobbying the legislature to grant counties authority to raise vehicle license fees up to $15 per vehicle at registration. It could raise millions for counties, cities and townships.
Political gridlock
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama proposed a six-year, $478 billion program to pay for highway, transit and infrastructure upgrades, with funding roughly split between the current fuel taxes and a tax on the foreign profits of U.S. corporations. How much of that plan survives Congress, where majority Republicans seek to limit government spending and reduce taxes, will not be determined for months.
Obama’s 2009 stimulus act provided a brief spike in transportation funding. But the annual amount available to states from the Federal Highway Trust Fund has hovered around $40 billion since 2007 while the needs have continued to mount.
Even though total state and federal road funding exceeded the general rate of inflation over the past decade, the pace has tapered off in recent years as the amount coming from the federal government declined. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimates that annual road and bridge spending by all levels of government is falling $32 billion short of what is needed.
The flat federal funding is having an impact because states rely on federal dollars for an average of about half their capital expenses for roads and bridges, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. The rest is covered with state money, which comes predominantly from fuel taxes.
Gasoline tax revenue has grown little since 2007 — and actually declined on an inflation-adjusted basis, according to some analysts — as vehicles have become more fuel-efficient and people cut back on driving.
“The method that we use to fund transportation — the primary method, the motor fuels tax — is a model that doesn’t work anymore,” said David Ellis, the top infrastructure investment analyst at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
To compensate, lawmakers in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wyoming passed gasoline tax increases during the past two years. But about half the states have not raised their gasoline taxes in at least a decade, and the federal gas tax has remained at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993.
Although some members of Congress have expressed a willingness to consider an increase, House and Senate Republican leaders have said there aren’t enough votes to pass a gas tax hike. Many states are now considering alternatives.
Virginia recently scrapped its per-gallon gasoline tax in favor of a new tax on the wholesale price of gas and a higher tax on other retail sales. The state also has turned to public-private partnerships to build projects.
Among them are new express lanes that opened in December on Interstate 95 in northern Virginia, a $925 million project financed partly by private investors who have a long-term contract to collect tolls.
Lawmakers in Minnesota, Utah and Missouri also are expected to consider proposals this year that could levy a sales tax on fuel, allowing the states to reap more money when the price of gasoline rises. And Michigan voters will decide in May on a 1 percent general sales tax for transportation.
In his inaugural address last month, California Gov. Jerry Brown cited $59 billion of needed maintenance on roads and bridges in the nation’s most populous state. He said the state was falling “further and further behind” but did not offer specifics on how to address the deficit.
Most states are simply looking to maintain their current highway system rather than add to it, said Jim Tyman, director of policy and management at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
“A lot of those facilities are in need of really massive rehab, almost reconstruction from the ground up,” he said.
David A. Lieb of the Associated Press contributed to this story.
About the Author