Ohio kicks off US$2.5 billion highway construction season

The Ohio government recently outlined the scope of the 2014 highway construction projects to be financed with funds borrowed against future Ohio Turnpike tolls. In total, 936 projects are planned at an estimated cost of US$2.5 billion.

Planned projects include the widening of a section of I-75, a three-year project expected to cost about US$260 million, plus a US$28 million reconstruction of part of I-75, US$31 million in improvements to I-475/US 23 in Toledo's western suburbs, and the US$18 million McCord Road underpass in Holland.

Legislation approved last year permits revenue derived from the tolls to be spent not just on the turnpike, but on other roads deemed to have a connection to the toll road. The use of toll revenue, in turn, allows the 7609 Ohio Department of Transportation's traditional fuel tax revenue stream to be devoted to other road improvements, principally roads farther from the turnpike, but also including the state's contribution to work like the McCord project, which will replace a busy railroad crossing with a railroad bridge over the road.