Cleveland Plain Dealer...
Gov. John Kasich promises that most money from turnpike lease deal would be spent in northern Ohio
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
By Reginald Fields 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. John Kasich, sounding more determined than ever to turn over the Ohio Turnpike to the highest bidder, began Tuesday trying to ease the public tension about his privatization plan. 

The Republican governor said if he can pull off a deal to lease the 241-mile toll road, he would spend the better portion of the proceeds on infrastructure projects in northern Ohio and in communities along the turnpike. 

It was Kasich’s way of trying to chip away at one of the sharpest criticisms of his plan by residents near the turnpike -- that the governor would unfairly siphon toll money they pay to fund projects as far away as Cincinnati and other far reaches of the state. 

A Sept. 27 Quinnipiac poll found that 56 percent of Ohio voters thought that leasing the turnpike was a bad idea and only 32 percent considered it a good idea. In Northeast Ohio, 64 percent panned the idea, and in the Northwest, 65 percent were against it.

“We’ll make the commitment that at least half the proceeds from a lease or bond would mean we put at least half the money on roads that are north of Route 30. We think that is a fair thing,” Kasich said during a speech at a transportation engineers conference in Columbus. He didn’t offer details on specific projects that could be funded. 

“We can’t put it all up there because, you know, we have infrastructure needs all across the state,” the Republican governor said. “But we can give at least half to the people that live up there.” 

Ohio Route 30 -- Kasich’s Mason-Dixon line in this offer -- is a highway that runs east and west from the Mahoning Valley, across Canton and Mansfield and over into Indiana. 

The governor also said that he would dedicate funds to communities along the turnpike, areas he accused the Ohio Turnpike Commission, the caretakers of the toll road, of ignoring for much of the road’s half-century of existence. 

“There are communities all along the turnpike that have been adversely affected by it but the turnpike’s construction policies really haven’t benefited them, whether it is increased noise of a new third lane or local roads over the turnpike that have been forced to close because of unstable slopes supporting the bridge,” Kasich said.

“It’s time to be good neighbors and fix these problems that have been neglected or ignored for too many years,” he said. 

Nice try, governor, but Howard Maier, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, isn’t ready to take Kasich at his word. The nonpartisan agency leads transportation and air-quality planning for the Cleveland area and in May passed a resolution opposing Kasich’s plan to privatize the turnpike. 

Maier noted that the state still has not heard from its hired consultant on whether it makes sense to lease the turnpike. 

“Frankly, I think it is probably a little early to be figuring how the money is going to be divvied up because the decision hasn’t be made on how to move forward,” Maier said. 

“He’s said that he won’t go forward if it doesn’t make good business sense and until they do that study this is premature,” Maier said. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of people wanting to weigh in on this if we get to that point about how to spend the money.” 

The governor said funds also would be used to pay for local bridge projects and public transit systems throughout Ohio. 

Ohio Department of Transportation director Jerry Wray has said that ODOT is running out of money to keep up with infrastructure projects. With fewer people driving, state and federal revenue Ohio collects from fuel taxes is down. Leasing the turnpike would help, he has said. 

The state envies the $3.8 billion, 75-year lease Indiana struck for its 157-mile portion of toll road. 

Kasich earlier this year said that he hoped to strike a $3 billion deal for the Ohio Turnpike which would net the state, after paying off debts, about $2.4 billion. The governor on Tuesday backed off those figures and declined to say how much he hopes to secure in a lease deal. 

NOACA, and similar agencies in Akron and Youngstown are concerned that a private operator would not maintain the turnpike as well as it is maintained now. 

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