So here we are again, in transition. This time, change is coming to the leadership at the Ohio Department of Transportation following the announcement in August that Director Jack Marchbanks was stepping down.
Under Director Marchbanks’ leadership, many notable occurrences took place. In a move that rarely occurs, the state’s motor-fuel user fee was increased. Federal transportation funding increased as well. Many of the plagues of COVID that crippled other industries were avoided when highway construction was declared an essential business and allowed to conditionally continue. There were many procedural changes that had to be undertaken, but the Department and industry worked together to keep projects going, saving jobs and, in some cases, companies. The largest single project in the history of ODOT, the Brent Spence Bridge, is underway and we’re experiencing the largest annual dollar amount of lettings in a single year.
With those achievements in place, it would be easy to take our eyes off the ball and coast for a while. But the predictability in life rests solely in the fact that there are always cliffs to be avoided.
The cycle of funding for maintaining highways and bridges is always oscillating. The recent wave of inflation has only made that peak and valley come and go much quicker. Gov. DeWine hinted at that in a recent media event related to the upgrade of U.S. 23 north of Columbus. He stated that future administrations and legislators will have to make difficult decisions to meet the demands being placed upon our current system.
Funding issues are also evident in the Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) list. For the past three years, the TRAC has allocated $353 million, $160 million, and $267 million, respectively, for construction. The next two years are not so prosperous. The amount of construction funding allocated by the TRAC for 2025 is $11 million and $22.5 million for 2026. Major/New Program funds are only allocated once system maintenance needs are met. The dramatic reduction in TRAC funding tells me ODOT is moving to a system maintenance program. Now, there will be Major/New projects that will carry over from year to year, but the pipeline of projects is slowly drying up. It needs to be maintained at a constant level, as gaps in project development do not work to stabilize our industry or improve the system.
Another red flag is project awards. To its credit, ODOT has consistently produced more plans resulting in more awarded dollars than it has locked-in at the beginning of the year. However, projects awarded have gone from 1,002 in 2019 to 872 in 2024. The average number of awarded projects each year since 2019 has been 953.
With 2½ years remaining in the DeWine Administration, Pamela Vest Boratyn will now take over the helm as ODOT Director. Director Boratyn is no stranger to ODOT, as we point out in an article on page 8. She knows her way around, and she’ll need that experience to stave off some potentially cloudy skies ahead.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not crying “Fire” in the movie theatre. But if these are troubling issues, Director Boratyn will have her plate full addressing them. It ain’t easy being the Director at ODOT. We’ll be keeping our eyes on the ball as well, just in case.