Infrastructure Needed

The biggest beneficiary of improved infrastructure is the federal government.  Even with tax reform, the federal government gets more income from growth of GDP than any other entity.

Licking County's most glaring infrastructure need is to replace a bridge that was originally a viaduct, or aqueduct really, that carried water and freight to the Ohio and Erie Canal and was built in the 1830's.

Yes, 1830's.  

Today, it carries freight and passengers across Racoon Creek at the northern end of the largest manufacturing corridor in Central Ohio.

A plan to replace it is underway but lacks the funding to get started.

A picture speaks a thousand words.  Here's four thousand.

Did I mention that the base of the "bridge" is wood?  And that wood is under water and has been since the 1830's.

See a bit on the history:  NewarkAdvocate.com

Three Years Ago Today: 161 Opened with Lingering Questions

Today marks three years to the day since the formal opening ceremony for the section of St. Rt. 161 from New Albany to Granville. 

I wrote back then about lingering questions that remained unanswered in 2010.  They remain unanswered today, but there's no less hope that they will get answered.

I asked, "Will the Cherry Valley Interchange get designed and built this decade?"

The answer is increasingly looking like "yes."  Using Congressman Pat Tiberi's long-standing earmark and ODOT's own excellent in-house engineering team at ODOT District 5, the design is nearly done.

The interchange missed many opportunities to get funded in the federal Stimulus, but it remains a top project in state rankings.  Improving state highway revenues coupled with a completed design makes its chances brighter for happening this decade.

I also asked, "Can't ODOT find a better number and name for this highway corridor than the current collection of routes known as SR161/SR37/SR16/US36/US250/US22?"

This concept has had strange stagnation in ODOT with the cost of signage remaining the reason given.  That otherwise seemingly valid reason ends up sounding strange considering the recent move to 70 MPH on certain highway sections was never apparently looked at with costs of signage as an issue. 

So, the answer is, "Yes, ODOT can."  However, the answer to the follow up question, "Will ODOT do it?" remains a likely, "Not anytime soon."

Lastly, I pondered three years ago, "Will there be a state leader emerge who sees the value of connecting the markets of Columbus and Pittsburgh in a way that a two-lane tunnel at Wheeling, West Virginia can't do and who champions finishing the unfinished business east along the highway corridor?"

Having a Governor living in Columbus with roots in Pittsburgh gives a glimmer of hope.  The studies that look at this project can't help but consider the recent economic past of Eastern Ohio as a predictor of the future and if the studies' outcomes remains the driving force it will be a very, very, very long time.  It's going to take leadership and a vision for the future of this region to push it.

The oil and gas boom happening along this Corridor, though, could hold the key to revival of this concept.  Here's hoping the issue remains alive just enough that should the opportunity present itself that a leader can't take the platform to push this project forward.

It's only been three years after all.

Columbus and Pittsburgh Make a Great One-Two Punch

Three Scale Research just published their findings in an updated look at population within a 500-mile radius of the nation's largest cities.  See the findings in a summation online.

The places that rank highest on this measure are the most important for transportation and logistics.

Columbus is number 1.  That means the Columbus MSA, of which Licking County is a significant part, is closer to a larger population within a day's drive (500 miles) than any other city in the U.S. 

It's especially interesting to note that Pittsburgh is number 2.

That means Licking County is poised between the two largest population-serving markets in the United States.

However, we shouldn't rest on our laurels.  The highway and railway links between Columbus and Pittsburgh are in need of improvement. 

To get between the two on interstate highways, one must do a reverse, 90-degree turn from I-79 at Washington, PA and go through a one-lane tunnel at Wheeling, WV on I-70. 

To go via rail, freight must first go north or south to come back to the other marketplace.  The main connecting railway was removed by Conrail decades ago.

Just imagine the economic benefits of better linking these two strategically-located markets!

This, alone, is a reason for Columbus and Pittsburgh interests to continue to focus advocacy on ways to improve access. 
 

 
For one, the Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor highway improvements in Ohio, though stalled by tight state budgets and the lack of a federal highway bill, should remain a priority of this three-state region.  Here's hoping the communities never give up the fight!
 
Secondly, continued state ownership and advancement of improvements to the Panhandle Rail Line is also critical.  Should slowed highway improvements and increased manufacturing push more freight to rail lines, this line's importance will grow more and more in coming years. 
 
Both of these concepts translate to more efficient movement of goods between Columbus and Pittsburgh, the nation's top one-two punch for serving the most people in the country.

Continue on Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor Committee, Continue On

I couldn't attend the recent meeting of the Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor Committee, but my thoughts were with them.  The Committee met and learned the results of a recent study from ODOT recommending the Newcomerstown-Cadiz piece not proceed to construction anytime soon.

I e-mailed my thoughts in advance to the Co-Chairmen and a Committee member who asked for my thoughts.

What I wrote was this:

Who knows the future? What view of the future did the consultants use?  The study, inevitably, used a view of the future of Eastern Ohio being like its recent past—shrinking populations and shrinking manufacturing base resulting in shrinking car usage and shrinking truck traffic.

That’s not a vision that should be used, frankly.  I think the potential is much, much greater.  I don’t think the Committee should share that dim view.


I shared with you the future view of America in the book The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050. In this book, Joel Kotkin makes a fact-based case that the U.S. will grow to 400+ million people and manufacturing will revive in the Midwest.

Places in Eastern Ohio closely resemble the type of communities that Kotkin envisions will benefit from the type of America we can expect to see in the next 40 years.  Building new highways to accommodate growing populations and resurgent manufacturing is key in that scenario.  Plus, those highways need to be “green” by connecting to waterways and rail which the Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor does.

The Bottom Line:  I hope the committee remains committed to advancing these key projects despite the doom and gloom of this study.  The future key to the Newcomerstown-Cadiz section ever getting constructed potentially rests in the completion of the Cherry Valley Interchange and the Coshocton-Dresden piece.

All along when many of us first fought for this section of highway it was on the premise that the state had already committed to completing those projects. The fact that these projects got delayed and never built is, in part, a good reason was the Newcomerstown-Cadiz piece is considered a tough-to-justify project today.

We may have to be more patient for a time when government revenue is able to support it, but we should use this setback to motivate us to double our efforts.

Garmin Gets It Right By Getting it Wrong

My wife's Garmin gets it.

Her Garmin doesn't yet know there's a new four-lane highway between New Albany and Granville, but it does know by what number this highway we're driving on between New Albany and Granville should be numbered.

Having just left the highway formerly known as 161 that ODOT says is State Route 37, I noticed that Garmin had the wrong number.  It was right though.

Confused.

Garmin said I'm driving on Hwy 161.  Not confusing there.

Yes, that's what the number should be even if ODOT says it shouldn't.

ODOT says I'm driving on SR37 and about to drive on SR16, so, technically, Garmin is wrong.

Garmin's right for being wrong.

Now, I'm nearing the section where SR16 heads south and 37 has previously exited North.  ODOT says I'm now on 16.  Garmin gets it wrong by ODOT but right by the rest of us, again, and says I'm on Hwy161 E.

This is a confusing column I'm writing.  I know. 

Wouldn't it be great if we could end all this confusion? 

Imagine trying to explain this to an out-of-town CEO considering a major capital investment in our area.

Imagine your life depending on an EMS squad knowing where the heck you are located when you call 9-1-1.

Time for the multi-number Hwy 161/37/16/36/250/22, aka the Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor, to be given one overlay number from Columbus to the Ohio River. 

Garmin gets it.  Call it Hwy 161.

A Victory for "Real" Smart Growth

Readers of this column know I consider so-called Smart Growth to, often, be an oxymoron in practice.  Some proponents favor no new highway capacity and preach "fix it first" as a mantra for highway departments.  That policy would, in my book, translate into stagnated government revenues and stagnated development.  And that's neither smart nor growth.

Thursday's official opening of new highway capacity from New Albany to Granville and another vital link on the Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor is a victory for "real" smart growth.

New highway capacity along areas where wealth-building industrial development can occur means, in the future, increased revenue for governments.  Development will come to the new 161 extension for the benefit of Ohio and our region.

That's smart.  That's growth.

A Reporter's Call

I got a call from a reporter today.  It was a long, intense conversation.  Too long.

I wonder what he got from it.  Yikes.

Here's the tidbits I hope get taken:

On the soon-to-be-open highway improvements between New Albany and Granville, I said one of the top things was the everyone got a bonus with increased property values.  The market for housing in Western and Central Licking County just got more interested buyers when the new highway opens.

On the fact that the highway is numbered 161, 37, 16, 36, and 22 between Columbus and Pittsburgh, I said I thought 161 made the most sense.  A lot of people have weighed in to say they want this, but, in the end, we want the new asphalt more than the new signs so we'll wait for common sense to prevail.

On why there doesn't appear to be any progress on naming the highway one name or numbering it with one number, I suggested he call ODOT.

On the fear that Licking County would lose people who commute to Franklin County with the new highway, I said that it just means we have to make continued progress on efforts to improve quality of life here and work to ensure that jobs in Licking County don't go unfilled.

On the need for the Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor group to continue, I said that that its powerful when we all work together and, for example, people from Steubenville help us make the case for the need for the Cherry Valley Interchange.

On the mentality that some people don't want development, I suggested that that concept is foreign to people like me who grew up and worked in places hit by declining population and a lack of growth.  I suggested that people who don't like development to happen should take a bus to places like Massillon, Ohio and see their perspective. 

That's enough said.  Whew.

Good Weather Gives Taste for Ohio Route 161 Opening

Though its still a couple of months away, the Spring-like weather has one hoping for the opening of State Route 161's Phase II project from St. Albans Township to Granville (actually the newest leg of the multi-numbered route SR161/SR37/SR16/US36/US22).

ODOT District 5 and its contractor are back to work on the project that will open Central Licking County to commuters from Franklin County and vice versa.  It really is getting so close that you can taste it.

It makes one also hope for the other things that need to get done to truly finish the job.

ODOT District 5 now has the design of the Cherry Valley Interchange in its able hands.  District 5 has, historically, been among the best for this type of work. God speed, engineers!

It's really time that the SR161/SR37/SR16/US36/US22 highway get a single number.  State Route 161 makes sense.  Many agree.  None of the excuses I've heard for why this hasn't already happened stand up to scrutiny in my book.

Most vital, some day, is when the highway is completed all the way east.  This soon-to-open segment will be an important leg of the Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor too.

Yes, good weather gives us a taste for things to come in the future.  Yes, indeed.