YOUNGSTOWN: A new coalition of county leaders in Northeast Ohio wants to put the brakes on a state proposal to privatize the Ohio Turnpike.
Officials representing Cuyahoga, Lorain, Mahoning, Summit and Trumbull counties decried the idea as foolhardy at a joint news conference Thursday at the Mahoning County Courthouse. The 241-mile toll road stretches across northern Ohio.
“What will happen after the sale of the turnpike? What are we left with?” Mahoning Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said. “Potholes. Unmaintained, unplowed, unsalted roads dangerous to traffic. … This would be a total nightmare for our area and for the state in general.”
The county leaders also predicted that motorists would see increased tolls.
But Gov. John Kasich’s spokesman Rob Nichols and Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Faulkner said there is no plan now to sell or lease the road.
The state is finalizing a contract to hire accounting firm KPMG to analyze options for the turnpike — and those include doing nothing, selling it, turning it over to ODOT and “everything in between,” Faulkner said.
The report is expected to be completed this year.
“We’re not going to do it if it doesn’t make economic sense,” Nichols said. “But we’re going to look at this and discuss it because there’s no federal transportation money and state transportation money.”
Given the fact that no study has been completed and no plan exists, Faulkner called the news conference by Democratic leaders a “dog-and-pony show.”
The Kasich administration has said it must examine ways to boost revenue to pay for infrastructure projects. The Ohio Transportation Review Advisory Council voted this week to postpone many major projects throughout the state, including the innerbelt bridge in Cleveland and Interstate 76 reconstruction in Akron because of a lack of money.
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said he doesn’t trust a consultant hired by the state because of the governor’s stance. He pledged to use his county’s workers to do his own analysis on the potential impact.
Summit County Executive Russ Pry pointed to an analysis done last year by the nonpartisan Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study that concluded the “costs greatly outweigh any benefits” in leasing the turnpike.
Even though all the county leaders present were Democrats, Mahoning Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti insisted the issue isn’t a Democratic vs. Republican one.
The county leaders — and state Rep. Ronald Gerberry, D-Youngstown — took turns bashing Kasich and the turnpike proposal. They said the highway shouldn’t be sold as a short-term financial fix to help pay for the state’s long-term infrastructure problems.
Gerberry, who introduced a bill to ban the sale or lease of the highway, also said the turnpike is an asset for northern Ohio and the coalition against the sale or lease must grow here.
“The people of Cincinnati don’t give a damn about that road,” he said. “The people of Columbus don’t care about that road.”
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.