Columbus, Ohio is the largest city in the state by population but the city’s transportation budget is unfunded and Columbus lacks mass public transportation. Columbus drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians know the dangers of the city’s roadways as cars are the most popular form of transportation. All of Columbus’ population has become victim to urban sprawl and wealthy flight leaving the poorer residents, who cannot afford cars, with walking and busing as their only transportation options. This leaves drivers with long commutes on bad roads from the suburban areas to the commercial districts inside the heart of the city where parking for an eight-hour workday can cost upwards of seventy five dollars a month for a parking garage pass. The lack of transportation infrastructure creates neighborhood isolating for meaning citizens leading to food deserts, poorly performing schools, and lack of cohesion as a city.
Since mass transportation is rarely available most household that can afford to have at least one car. Those who drive know the hazards that come with being on Ohio’s highways and roads, conditions are not ideal for safe driving as well as the long term viability of our cars. According to Channel 10 News, 42 percent of Ohio’s roadways are in “poor or mediocre condition”. Construction is moving along slowly on some of our major roads within the city of Columbus but when the projects are done we should have better executed and newer roads. The City of Columbus Department of Public Services (2014) is working on some large projects to improve the flow of traffic and the quality of the roadways. Two of the larger projects that the Department of Public Services (2014) are working on are the Mound Street Connector Project and the I-71/1-670 Crossroads Project which are being done in stages. These will not be completed for many years.
Some roadwork in being done but it is being handled slowly because of the intensities of the labor and Ohio’s budget constraints. The conditions of roads are improving, Ohio’s roadways are only slightly ahead of the national average. In the 2013 report from The American Society of Civil Engineers, our roads and bridges were given a rating of C- which only slightly beats the national letter grade of a D (Channel 10 News, 2013). Ohio drivers spend an extra $2 million a year in extra car repairs (Channel 10 News, 2013), we can attest that the roads and bridges are rough on the life expectancy of our cars as well as as our time. In March of 2013 Ohio’s governor signed a $7.6 billion dollar transportation budget that allots $3 billion to the maintenance of current infrastructure (Majority Caucus, 2013). The budget also allows private sector companies to partner with the state saddling them with the upfront costs of the projects but also an amount of the revenue gained from each project (Majority Caucus, 2013). Included in the bill was the bonding of the Ohio Turnpike, up to $1.5 billion dollars, (Majority Caucus, 2013) with ninety percent of the money going to fund the budget for transportation infrastructure in the northern area of the state.
Driver’s have the loudest voice when it comes to transportation infrastructure because Columbus, Ohio is lacking in mass transportation. The city has buses ran by the Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA, but Columbus does not have any other kind of public transportation. Many residents of Columbus feel that some other kind of public transportation is a necessity but the logistics of Columbus gaining other kinds of public transport makes the idea difficult at best. Ideally, the city would benefit from some sort of rapid transit system such as a metro, underground, or light trail train. Driving around the city is impossible for a percentage of the population as not everyone can afford a car, bikes are often unsafe, and the buses are not considered the most reliable source of transportation. Those without cars live within walking distance of most of their needs creating pockets of poverty in Columbus that impact resident’s safety and quality of life. Recently a designer named Michael Tyznik (2014) designed transit map of Columbus that includes use of existing freight rail tracks and right of ways that would run from the heart of Columbus into all it’s suburban neighborhoods. Columbus is the largest city in the United States without mass public transportation, but momentum is building and with funding and support it could be possible that a public transport system could be built.
Columbus is the largest city in Ohio and it is a fascinating, bustling, progressive city to live in; however, both the city and state have many points of contention within our transportation systems. As the capital of Ohio, the city of Columbus should be leading the way in progressive advancements and with positive results the state’s transportation infrastructure could change. Investments, ideas, and strategies are coming out of Columbus that could, if enacted, could change the whole nature of our city for the better. Sadly, ninety percent of the revenue generated by the bonding and rebuilding of the Ohio Turnpike will be invested into the northern Ohio region with very little of it coming to Columbus (Majority Caucus, 2013). However, the people of Columbus are innovative, collaborative, creative, and intelligent leading me to believe that the way we get around the city will be changing in the near future.
Works Cited:
1: Majority Caucus. Majority Caucus Blog. The Ohio Senate, 11 April 2013, web, 15 February http://www.ohiosenate.gov/republicans/press/governor-signs-76-billion-transportation-budget-turnpike-plan
2. Michael Tyznik. Columbus tram-train map, 2014, web. 14 February 2014 http://www.tyznik.com/columbustransit/
3. "Ohio Earns ‘C-‘ Grade For Infrastructure” Channel 10 News. 23 March 2013 . Web. 15 February 2014. http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2013/03/26/ohio-earns-c-minus-grade-for-infrastructure.html
4. Paving the Way: Central Ohio’s one-stop source for road construction and roadway safety information. The City of Columbus Department of Public Services, 2014, web, 14 Febuary 2014 http://www.pavingtheway.org/site/home.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment