Ohio DOT to Assist Locally Owned Bridges with Funds Available through Efficiencies

AASHTO Journal, 8 November 2013

The Ohio Department of Transportation is stepping in to assist cities and counties in repairing their bridges, a move made possible through ODOT’s efforts to make the department more efficient.

Gov. John Kasich announced last week that ODOT will be investing $120 million to repair and replace more than 200 bridges owned by cities and counties during the next three years. ODOT officials say work on about 40 of those bridges—30 county and 10 municipal—will begin next year, after which ODOT will work with local officials to determine the next bridges to be fixed or replaced. The selection of bridges for the funding will be made based on multiple factors, such as safety and job creation.

“When we took office Ohio faced not only an $8 billion shortfall in our general budget but also a $1.6 billion shortfall in our highway budget,” said Kasich in a statement. “ODOT tightened its own belt, freed up more than $600 million and then Ohio leveraged the turnpike to generate an additional $1.5 billion, which grows to $3 billion when paired with federal and local funds. That innovative thinking and that careful management of our resources is why we can do this $120 million program to help counties and cities meet their bridge needs.”

A list of the 40 bridges already identified for repair is available here. A fact sheet on the program is available here.

This entry was posted in Bridge Design/Const., Bridge Pres. Apps., General News, Legislative / Political, New Technology, News. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.