Skip to main content

ODoT targets transportation funding solutions and alternatives

Jerry Wray, Ohio Department of Transportation (ODoT) director, has officially announced the Division of Innovative Delivery, a move he says is critical to identifying innovative and alternative funding solutions and advancing the agency’s goal developing long-term, sustainable solutions to fund future transportation construction projects. By reducing agency costs, commercialising non-interstate rest areas and seeking sponsorship and naming rights for certain infrastructure projects, the Ohio Department of T
March 22, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSJerry Wray, Ohio Department of Transportation (ODoT) director, has officially announced the Division of Innovative Delivery, a move he says is critical to identifying innovative and alternative funding solutions and advancing the agency’s goal developing long-term, sustainable solutions to fund future transportation construction projects.

By reducing agency costs, commercialising non-interstate rest areas and seeking sponsorship and naming rights for certain infrastructure projects, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODoT) could save nearly US$200 million annually and billions more could be generated or saved by leveraging state-owned assets and exploring public, private partnerships.

“ODoT shares the desire of many communities to get local transportation projects finished more timely, but our current funding situation simply will not allow it,” said Wray. “All of our projects are high priority. They all involve some component of economic development, congestion relief and safety. That is why it is crucial to come together as policy leaders and seek out innovative and alternative funding solutions in the days, months and years to come.”

ODoT recently hired Jim Riley to lead the department’s Division of Innovative Delivery. He has more than 23 years of private sector experience, where he worked to develop innovative and sustainable funding solutions for major transportation projects in Ohio, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, and Georgia.

A complete review of all transportation projects is currently underway to identify those that could be potential candidates for public/private partnerships (P3’s), as well as additional sources of revenue to aid in the funding of major transportation projects throughout the state. Details of the review are expected later this year.

Related Content

  • June 14, 2018
    Fluor: here's how to fix US infrastructure
    US president Donald Trump’s comments about the country’s ‘crumbling infrastructure’ led many in the ITS sector to spot an opportunity to help with other solutions. David Seaton of Fluor ponders the scale of what’s required and considers some projects which have boosted mobility We can no longer wait for future generations to address this nation’s crumbling infrastructure. We need to act now. The problem is substantial, to say the least. The American Society of Civil Engineers predicts that failing to clo
  • January 29, 2015
    Tolls to help fund improvements to the Brent Spence Bridge
    The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has applauded Governors Beshear (Kentucky) and Kasich (Ohio) following their announcement that they plan to use tolls to pay for at least part of the US$2.63 billion Brent Spence Bridge replacement. Brent Spence Bridge is a double deck, cantilevered truss bridge that carries Interstates 71 and 75 across the Ohio River between Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Originally designed to carry 80,000 vehicles per day, approximately 172,0
  • January 20, 2012
    Social media a one-stop shop for travel information
    Exponentially widening mobile phone ownership is opening up the field to new ways of obtaining and disseminating better travel information from and to public transport users, via for example social media and tracking riders' phones. Over 50 US transit agencies, including major actors such as TriMet, in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, Dallas Area Rapid Transit in Texas, and San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), as well as smaller operators, now have Facebook and/or Twitter accoun
  • January 19, 2012
    Road user charging - replacing the gas tax with a mileage based fee
    Oregon Department of Transportation's James Whitty discusses his state's progress with VMT fee-based charging. Back in 2001, the state of Oregon stole a lead on the rest of the US when it decided to address the need to do something about the gas tax and its decreasing ability to fund highway construction and upkeep. Recognising that a dwindling pot of money could only shrink further as vehicles became more fuelefficient, Oregon's Legislative Assembly passed laws which led to the setting up, by the state's g