Highway Funding in Crisis - The Ignorance of our Congress

We wonder why the highway trust fund is nearing insolvency in a time of these various givens.

1. Deteriorating infrastructure, whether they cost lives in bridge collapse in Minnesota or inconvenience of bridge closings due to unsafe conditions
2. Increasing congestion slowing the moving of goods for industry
3. The same congestion slowing commutes for drivers
4. Federal Trust Fund dollars diverted by earmarks for projects outside of the priorites of State transportation officials
5. Federal Gas Tax, the primary revenues source of the Highway Trust Fund remaining unchanged in better than ten years.
6. Double digit inflation in the construction industry costed by increased fuel costs reducing the buying power of the highway departments

Sure, there are politicians grandstanding with varying "solutions" in this election year. There is talk of private investment (translation tolls) to solve the problem. This is one tool in the tool box, but today I must point out a symptom of the problem that lies with our elected officials.

Today in the Toledo Blade, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, (9th District Ohio) has a letter to the editor entitled " Time to stop state drain on turnpike". A link to it is below.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080525/OPINION03/805250315/-1/OPINION

In this letter, Ms. Kaptur is critical of the Ohio Department of Transportation for diverting Ohio Turnpike tolls. One exerpt of Ms. Kaptur's letter;

"Turnpike dollars have been systematically diverted to build "freeways" across other growth corridors of the state: U.S. 30 from Indiana through Upper Sandusky to Pennsylvania and I-70 from Indiana through Columbus to Pennsylvania. In fact, there are so many interstates around Columbus, one can spend an entire day cruising that spaghetti."

This is a time to remind Ms. Kaptur that tolls from the Ohio Turnpike are used to retire the debt on the building of the turnpike, its service plazas and the subsequent widening in recent years. The construction of the upgrading of US 30 and all of the other interstate highways in Ohio are funded with Federal Gas Tax dollars dispersed by Congress to the states and then allocated by ODOT. There is more from Marcy

"...our federal taxes are not returned along this northern corridor, while turnpike users are charged rising tolls which the state then diverts to points south. Our tolled corridor becomes an economic straightjacket pitted against "free ways" in other parts of our state."

None of these diversions have taken place. Rising tolls are funding the widening of the Turnpike. In recent years ODOT has transfered money to the turnpike to reduce tolls on trucks to encourage them to use the safer turnpike instead of other two lane state highways.

One of the points of this letter by Ms. Kaptur is to tout a plan by Govenor Strickland to use turnpike tolls for his economic stimulus package and to spend highway trust fund dollars on other modes of transportation. While promoting rail and transit is important, the transfer of inadequate levels of highway dollars for these other modes is ill concieved when ODOT is unable to fund its current program.

ODOT has commited significant dollars in recent years to reconstruct US 20 along the turnpike in Wood County, a project that is ongoing to widen toward Woodville. Earmarks from Congress were responsible for the US 20 SR 420 interchange and the I-75 SR 795 interchange.

Ms. Kaptur, do not rant about topics like these without getting your facts straight. I am sure this will help to brainwash an unknowing electorate to get you reelected by near unanimous margins but does little to solve the problems you are elected to do.