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Started 1 year ago by Walker
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mrsgeedeck
Castle of Lions
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News said:
Federal funding cut could spell more trouble for ODOT
Business First by Adrian Burns, Staff reporter
Date: Thursday, January 26, 2012

Work on a federal transportation bill is set to begin again and anyone interested in infrastructure spending in Ohio should take notice. That’s because federal transportation money funds about 60 percent of Ohio Department of Transportation spending. Given that ODOT said it’s already pushing back projects in the state because of a funding shortage, things are dire.

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2012/01/federal-funding-cut-could-spell-more.html

I fully admit this is going to be a very (somewhat stupid) lazy question on my part....Don't we have a gas tax, and if so what does that money get spent on where we rely so heavily on federal funding?

Posted 4 months ago #
Bruin

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Most of the gas tax is federal, thus gets sent to Washington, before the money gets distributed via a formula to the state DOTs which spend the funds.

Posted 4 months ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States

Federal - 18.4 cents
State (OH) - 28.4 cents

For gasoline only.

And here is the collections numbers for Ohio -

http://tax.ohio.gov/divisions/tax_analysis/tax_data_series/motor_fuel/mv1/documents/MV1FY11.pdf

The state collected ~ $1.8 billion in motor fuel taxes for FY2011.

ODOT's proposed budget for 2010 was $3.2 billion, for 2011 $2.8 billion.

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Legislative/Pages/2010-2011StateTransportationBudget.aspx

Posted 4 months ago #
jbcmh81

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It's amazing how this country refuses to even maintain our infrastructure, let alone improve it.

Posted 4 months ago #
mrsgeedeck
Castle of Lions
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Thanks @futureman and @bruin!

Posted 4 months ago #
GreatOutdoors
Short North
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I fully admit this is going to be a very (somewhat stupid) lazy question on my part....Don't we have a gas tax, and if so what does that money get spent on where we rely so heavily on federal funding?

The federal gas tax also hasn't been raised since the early 90s, so it the monies collected from it haven't increased in tandem with inflation.

Posted 4 months ago #
GCrites80s
5xNW
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^ Or the inflation specific to road projects, which was higher than general inflation since then.

Posted 4 months ago #
jpizzow
580 N. Park St.
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Or we are just building too many roads to maintain

Posted 4 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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GreatOutdoors said:
The federal gas tax also hasn't been raised since the early 90s, so it the monies collected from it haven't increased in tandem with inflation.

Not to mention that since the gas tax is a percentage based on gallons sold, it actually takes a hit as the average fuel efficiency of vehicles increases.

Posted 4 months ago #
News
Columbus Underground
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ODOT adds another year to delays on local highway projects
By Robert Vitale
The Columbus Dispatch
Tuesday January 31, 2012 11:11 PM

Ohio Department of Transportation officials added another year’s delay today to 18 major highway projects that already were slated for delays of five to 17 years. The extra delays — “really just corrections” to a list released on Jan. 17, according to state officials — would affect all future phases of I-70/71 reconstruction and projects planned to untangle I-270 traffic between Rts. 315 and 23.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/01/31/odot-adds-another-year-to-delays-on-local-highway-projects.html

Posted 3 months ago #
News
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ODOT may add more cable barriers to highways
By Robert Vitale
The Columbus Dispatch
Monday February 13, 2012 7:11 AM

Nearly a decade after the state began stringing cable barriers along 300 miles of Ohio highways, state transportation officials are considering expanding their reliance on the lifesaving features. Another 136 miles of heavily traveled interstate and state highways will be reviewed by Ohio Department of Transportation engineers as potential locations for cable fencing designed to keep vehicles from crossing a median into oncoming traffic.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/13/cable-barriers-a-success-more-may-be-on-way.html

Posted 3 months ago #
columbusmike

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That's $12.9 million dollars for a cable barrier.

Posted 3 months ago #
leftovers

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columbusmike said:
That's $12.9 million dollars for a cable barrier.

Probably little known, but cable barriers are one of the cheapest, most effective ways of saving lives. According to insurance inury and loss of life tables if the money spent on airbags were put into things like cable barriers far more injuries and deaths would be avoided.

Unfortunately it is often easier to sell and mandate personal safety devices than public ones.

Posted 3 months ago #
columbusmike

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leftovers said:
Probably little known, but cable barriers are one of the cheapest, most effective ways of saving lives. According to insurance inury and loss of life tables if the money spent on airbags were put into things like cable barriers far more injuries and deaths would be avoided.

Unfortunately it is often easier to sell and mandate personal safety devices than public ones.

Interesting. Someone should provide a statistic on how many lives would be saved if we used more rail ;)

Posted 3 months ago #
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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columbusmike said:
That's $12.9 million dollars for a cable barrier.

136 miles of cable barriers, and it would only have to save about 4-5 lives to be cost effective.

Posted 3 months ago #
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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columbusmike said:
Interesting. Someone should provide a statistic on how many lives would be saved if we used more rail ;)

We could probably do the math using these stats:
http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_02_01.html

Posted 3 months ago #
News
Columbus Underground
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Ohio sends hundreds of millions in gas-tax money to other states
By Robert Vitale
The Columbus Dispatch
Monday February 20, 2012 6:24 AM

Work on I-71 on the northeastern edge of Downtown is under way, but other Innerbelt projects are to be delayed for lack of funding. In the past decade, Ohio has sent $1.5 billion in gas taxes out of state. Ohio might not face such lengthy delays in sorely needed highway upgrades if the state received a better return on the money its residents pay in federal gasoline taxes.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/20/donor-state.html

Posted 3 months ago #
News
Columbus Underground
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Highway bill amendments could help ODOT's bottom line
By: Robert Vitale
The Columbus Dispatch
March 13, 2012 16:03 PM

The U.S. Senate is considering amendments today to a two-year, $109 billion transportation bill that has divided lawmakers and the White House since 2009. Two proposals the should come up for a vote address issues that have been raised during discussion of ODOT's plan to delay 34 major highway projects for up to 19 years. The state has more plans than money right now, officials have said.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/crawlumbus/2012/03/portman-amend.html

Posted 2 months ago #
News
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ODOT hopes branding is way to drive new revenue
By Robert Vitale
The Columbus Dispatch
Friday March 16, 2012 7:53 AM

Director Jerry Wray said yesterday that ODOT will study the idea of selling naming rights and sponsorships for 49,000 miles of Ohio highways. The concept could raise as much as $15 million a year for the cash-strapped agency and wipe $10 million in maintenance costs off the books, he said.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/03/16/odot-hopes-branding-is-way-to-drive-new-revenue.html

Posted 2 months ago #
CalebR
Lincoln Village
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Column: Ohio's $1.6 billion highway budget shortfall
by Jerry Wray
Dayton Business Journal
Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 1:33pm

Ohio's highways are essential to keeping and creating new jobs. Our state's economy -- especially our agriculture and manufacturing businesses, and the logistics operations that support them -- depend on the ability to quickly and efficiently ship raw materials and finished goods throughout Ohio, the country and the world, and our state's transportation system makes it possible.

This critical economic engine risks running out of gas. Funding for our highways is drying up and is not projected to keep up with our needs. In fact, the state's highway budget faces a $1.6 billion shortfall, which will force high-priority projects to face serious completion delays.

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/news/2012/03/06/column-ohios-16-billion-highway.html

Posted 2 months ago #