Eliminating emissions from outdated diesel transit engines and substantially contributing to the reduction of individual automobile emissions will have extraordinary and compounding benefits for Ohio’s air quality.
Ohio EPA’s VW Settlement Funding Draft Plan Earmarks $15 million each to transit and school bus replacement
Greater Ohio Policy Center Unveils 2018 Public Policy Platform
Ohio Transportation Academy Workshop III: Effective Strategies for Building Local Transportation Campaigns
Members of the 2017 Ohio Transportation Leadership Academy recently completed the third workshop of the Ohio Transportation Academy. Hosted by GOPC and Transportation for America (T4A), the workshop brought together public, private, and nonprofit leaders from Cincinnati, Delaware, Toledo, Lorain, Cleveland, and Akron.
A New Look at Transit
Senate Approves 6 Veto Overrides - Delays Vote on Funding for Counties and Transit Agencies
In a rare August session, the Ohio Senate voted on 6 of the 11 veto overrides that the Ohio House of Representatives approved during a special voting session on July 6. They held over five other veto overrides for a possible future vote, including a provision that seeks to provide additional funding for counties and transit agencies.
Ohio EPA Provides Update on VW Mitigation Trust Fund
In December of 2016, the Ohio EPA began accepting comments on the use of the anticipated $75 million the state of Ohio expects to receive as part of the settlement in the Volkswagen Clean Air Act civil settlement. While a Trustee was appointed by the court earlier this year, there are still ongoing negotiations with the court and parties to the settlement.
First Workshop of 2017 Ohio Transportation Academy Explores Regional Visions
Driverless cars could be the attractive future but public transportation is the vital present
By Alex Highley, GOPC Project AssociateMany states across the country,including Ohio, have begun to embrace the idea that driverless cars will soon represent an exciting, safe, and more efficient alternative to human-controlled vehicles. Last year, Columbus was awarded the federal Smart Cities grant, which pledges millions of federal dollars to be invested in new technologies for driverless cars. While autonomous vehicles may eventually solve some of the transportation challenges Ohio faces once their usage is proven to be safe and effective, leaders in the state should focus their efforts today on expanding and strengthening public transit. Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) believes that Ohio must prioritize investment in the existing transportation system, where the technology already exists to safely and efficiently transport people to jobs, doctors, and grocery stores.
While autonomous vehicles may one day rule the road, it is imperative that Ohio develops transportation solutions for residents who seek a means of mobility in the short-term. Public transit is a proven form of transportation that if invested in properly, can produce a number of economic development benefits for residents and businesses within communities of all types. Ohio’s population is aging and many residents, especially those living in rural areas, do not have reliable access to a car to get to job opportunities, medical appointments, family, and the grocery store. Because Ohio’s land usage pattern is defined by sprawling communities, residential areas are often located far from job sites and thus qualified individuals are unable to fill positions at companies seeking their talents. Improving transit service through, for instance,regionalization, will ameliorate these difficulties by connecting workers with key destinations and allow them to participate in Ohio’s economy.
Cota on high st
However, there is a glaring shortage of good-working public transportation buses and vans in Ohio. As theOhio Department of Transportation Transit Needs Studynotes, 27 counties in Ohio do not even operate a public transit network, which means that many people rely on health and human service transportation functions to get to important destinations. Even within the transit agencies that do offer service, over a third of the 3,240 vehicles are beyond their useful life, yet they are still on the roads. As demand grows among all age groups, investment in the system is even more crucial. By 2025, the Transit Needs Study estimates that an additional $562 million in annual funding will be needed to meet the future demand for public transit statewide.
Given the general level ofuncertainty surrounding driverless cars, leaders at all level of government and business should concentrate efforts on existing transportation systems. At the moment,74 percent of Americans simply do not believe driverless cars will be safe to use. Until the public has demonstrated it trusts the new technology, it would be premature to pool resources into a system with so many lingering questions. Even if Ohioans do at some point accept autonomous vehicles as a viable alternative to driver-operated cars, it is unlikely that their costs, at least initially, will make them accessible to a wide cohort of citizens. Thus, the proliferation of the technology would likely do little to help residents who struggle to find a way to get to doctor’s appointments. By supporting a robust, modernized public transportation system, Ohio’s leaders can build a successful, fluid network of travel for workers and residents throughout the state.
For more resources on transportation policy affecting Ohio’s cities and regions, please visit GOPC’s Transportation Modernization webpage
Pending Congressional Approval, Federal Budget Will Cut Important Transportation Grant Program
By Alex Highley, GOPC Project AssociateUnder the Trump administration’s recent budget proposal, a crucial grant program supporting capital investment for transportation projects across Ohio and the country is slated to be abolished. The federal program known as the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants are earmarked to be eliminated, unless the House and Senate budget bills reverse the provision doing away with the program. Funding for TIGER, a program that was developed in 2009 as part of the federal Recovery Act, is allocated to state Departments of Transportation (DOT) and local jurisdictions by Congress following a merit-based award process. Should Congress decide to scrap the program, some planned transit, rail, and bike and pedestrian projects in Ohio could fail to produce the funds necessary for completion.
Since 2009, TIGER grantshave funneled over $4 billion to a variety of innovative transportation projects around the country, including transit, rail, port, road, and bike and pedestrian. Since the program’s inception, the annual program budget has declined over time, reducing the number of awarded projects, while applications have ramped up. The US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) latest round ofTIGER grant awards, known as TIGER VII, are set to deliver $500 million to various projects nationwide. In total, this amount will support 39 capital projects in 33 states. However, award amounts have been slowly declining since the initial TIGER I, which funded 51 separate capital projects in the form of $1.5 billion in award money.
Downtown overhead
Akron's downtown promenade was awarded a $5 million TIGER capital grant in 2016. Photo credit: AkronStock
TIGER grants are immensely important in Ohio, where they offer needed funding assistance to multi-modal projects that would struggle to generate the necessary funding otherwise. For example, in 2015$6.8 million was awarded to Ohio to divide among sparsely-funded public transit agencies in rural areasof the state such as Athens, Wilmington, Chillicothe, Knox, Lancaster, Marion, Logan, and others. Moreover, theOpportunity Corridorproject, which is a path designed for transit, bikes, and pedestrians in northeast Ohio, along with thedowntown promenade in Akron, have enjoyed the fruits of grant awards in recent years. In total,Ohio has received over $79 millionfrom the TIGER program for transportation projects (see the table below for a year-by-year breakdown).
The success of the program is manifested by the substantial local investment it has spurred. USDOT calculates that TIGER’s initial investment has leveraged $1.74 billion in matching funds by state and local actors, including the private and public sectors contributing to the completion of the project. However, due to the program’s widespread appeal, acquiring TIGER grants have become increasingly more difficult. As local transportation projects face a dwindling supply of resources, the TIGER program has become more competitive given the increasing demand. Subsequently, many advocates have called for an expansion of the program to aid local governments in finishing important projects.
Scrapping the program entirely would represent a big blow to public transportation systems in Ohio in particular, given many local systems are insufficiently supported.The Ohio Department of Transportation's (ODOT)2015 Transit Needs Study estimates that Ohio’s public transportation systems suffer from a $192.5 million dollar funding shortfall in combined capital and operations needs. Moreover, the study finds that the state of Ohio spends just 63 cents per capita on public transportation over the course of each year, ranking Ohio 38th in the nation in its investment in this crucial policy area.
Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) believes that Ohio’srecently-passed transportation budget, which includes a $10 million increase in flex funding for public transportation, is a positive step to modernizing the state’s transportation system. However, local systems will continue to struggle to meet the demands of riders, and the possible federal elimination of the TIGER program will increase the financial strain on cash-strapped agencies that are seeking the funds to ensure they can properly invest in their capital systems as well as operate sufficiently.
For more resources on transportation policy affecting Ohio’s cities and regions, please visit GOPC’sTransportation Modernization webpage.
TIGER Grants Total Award Amounts in Ohio
2009: $20 million
2010: $10.5 million
2011: $12.5 million
2012: $16 million
2013: no award
2014: $400,000
2015: $6.8 million
2016: $12.9 million
Grand Total: $79.1 million