What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy
On Monday, ODOT Director Jerry Wray said he opposed including the 90% requirement in legislation authorizing the bond proposal. “There are a lot of projects there on our list that are from northern Ohio,” Director Wray said. “So my hope is – and I hope the governor agrees with me – that we don’t set some sort of arbitrary number or percentage, but that we look at how are we going to benefit the transportation system in this state. Gov. Kasich didn’t comment directly on the 90% requirement Monday, but he said northern Ohio residents shouldn’t worry that their highway needs will be left unaddressed.Today in Budget Director Tim Keen’s testimony he said, “The availability of these additional highway dollars, primarily for use in northern Ohio, will permit ODOT to apply its traditional funding sources to accelerate completion of high-priority projects throughout the rest of the state.” With the budget roll out, Kasich is no longer willing to commit a majority of Turnpike dollars directly to Northern Ohio and the Turnpike dollars they do send there are going to be used to supplant previous transportation dollars that had been spent there. Tomorrow, Wray is set to testify to the Finance Committee. Hopefully someone can remind him of the promises the Kasich administration has already made.
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