(The Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers (OARP) issued the following press release on January 27.)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Governor Taft’s call for a 6-cent increase in the Ohio Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax only takes Ohio further down the road of a highways-only transportation policy. It also begs the questions that if we can’t afford to maintain the roadways we have how can we afford to maintain even more miles and why do we want or need to build more?
“It’s even more disappointing that the Governor’s Tax Plan offers no funding hope at all for alternative modes of transportation at a time when Ohioans most need these options,” said Stu Nicholson, administrative director of the Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers (OARP), a nonprofit advocacy organization.
Ohio’s constitution prohibits the spending of gas tax revenues on anything but highways and bridges. But that shouldn’t prevent the State of Ohio from creating a new funding stream for passenger rail, mass transit, bicycle or pedestrian improvements. OARP is on record with the Ohio Motor Vehicles Fuel Tax Task force as calling for such a new revenue stream.
“We don’t oppose the need to keep Ohio’s existing roadways in peak condition,” says Nicholson. “However, we are puzzled why the Governor seems to be ignoring badly-needed transportation options to reduce traffic congestion, urban sprawl and their negative environmental impacts.”
Nicholson pointed out that ODOT Director Gordon Proctor was quoted in 2001 at a meeting of highway and transportation contractors that we in Ohio “cannot pave our way out of congestion.” ODOT’s own multi-year expansion of I-71 has been possible by expanding only into the median due to the prohibitive dollar and environmental costs of expanding onto adjacent lands.
A highway’s-only transportation policy serves only to give Ohio an unbalanced transportation system that remains vulnerable not only to increasing congestion, but one that can be grid-locked by everything from the weather to man-made disruptions, such as road repairs and accidents. It also ensures increased spending just to maintain highways that inevitably results from the wear and tear of increased traffic.
More importantly, such a policy deprives all Ohioans of a variety of mobility choices, even if they are regular automobile users. It also deprives Ohio’s economy of a valuable development tool that can help create new business, jobs and revenues. But instead of creating a self-sustaining transportation system, we are literally driving in the opposite direction.
We urge Governor Taft and the Ohio General Assembly to immediately begin exploring the creation of new revenue streams that can be directed at funding rail, transit, bicycle and pedestrian improvements.
OARP is a nonprofit, educational organization founded in 1973 to advocate for service and safety improvements to intercity passenger rail and urban transit services.