Ohio legislators OK transportation bill

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COLUMBUS — The Ohio House of Representatives concurred late this week with Senate amendments to House Bill 74, the Fiscal Years 2022-2023 Transportation Budget. The budget bill would appropriate approximately $4.33 billion in Fiscal Year 2022 and $4.04 billion in Fiscal Year 2023. 

“It is important to support Ohio’s transportation industries so that existing projects can be improved and new ones can occur,” said State Representative Craig Riedel (R-Defiance), who voted for the legislation.  

Under the agreed upon bill, approximate agency appropriations over the biennium are as follows:

• $6.5 billion to the Ohio Department of Transportation, which supports infrastructure, highways, roads, bridge construction and maintenance, and public transportation
• $1.4 billion to the Department of Public Safety (DPS), including $50 million in each fiscal year to the Ohio State Highway Patrol
• $119 million to the Public Works Commission (PWC) Local Transportation Improvement Program
• $30 million to the Development Services Agency (DSA) Roadwork Development Grant Program
• FY 2022 appropriations for ODOT include about $333 million in stimulus funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act passed by Congress in December 2020
• $126 million of this funding will be provided to local governments to cover lost revenue from pandemic travel restrictions
• ODOT will dedicate approximately $60 million in FY 2022 and 2023 to major new projects through the Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC)

The Transportation Budget now heads to the desk of the governor for a signature.