Saturday, January 15, 2000
Taft plan seeks funding for roads in city limits
State would help repair state routes
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — In a lucrative show of support for his hometown, Gov. Bob Taft next week will call for the state to get more involved in some Cincinnati-area road projects.
Under a change in policy, Mr. Taft will propose Wednesday during his annual State of the State address that the state pick up 80 percent of the tab for paving state routes in all urban areas, sources told The Cincinnati Enquirer on Friday.
Cincinnati typically gets no state help for paving state roads within the city limits, while Cleveland and Columbus traditionally have received between 40 percent and 100 percent of the cost for similar work.
Urban paving projects also would gain an advantage with the state Transportation Review Advisory Council, a group created to judge road work based on objective criteria rather than political considerations. Urban projects would be given more weight in the scoring used to assess requests, according to sources familiar with the governor's proposal.
Mr. Taft's idea is expected to be part of a broader agenda to encourage economic development in cities and rural areas.
The number of lane miles affected by the change could not be determined Friday. Officials at the Ohio Department of Transportation's local office could not be reached for comment.
State routes within the city include Glenway Avenue in Price Hill, Seymour Avenue in Roselawn and Linwood Avenue in Mount Lookout and Hyde Park.
Mr. Taft's proposal comes as city officials grapple with an audit that found engineers misrepresented road repairs and how much the projects cost.
City engineers reported 818 lane miles had been completed for $65 million between 1991 and 1997. But an internal audit found only 460 lane miles had been done for about $50.5 million.
Mayor Charlie Luken said he plans to ask city officials to estimate how much Mr. Taft's proposed policy is worth to Cincinnati.
“That's high on our priority list,” Mr. Luken said. “To the extent the governor wants to partner with us, I'm delighted.”
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