STOPPING OHIO TRAIN PROJECT WAS THE RIGHT DECISION

You might remember when Ohio was considering the 3-C train that would link Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. I spent a great deal of time in 2010 evaluating the merits, costs, benefits and details of the proposal.  Governor Strickland and his administration wanted to spend millions of dollars in taxes on the project. In fact, Ohio spent $23 million on a contract just to do the planning and design of it, an amount I voted against as a member of the State’s Controlling Board.

The 3-C rail would have also required hundreds of millions in federal stimulus money. The ultimate  position I arrived at was that the project would be frivolous and the money would be wasted.  There were too many unanswered questions regarding costs, ridership estimates and maintenance issues for my comfort level to commit limited state resources to the project. It was billed as “high-speed” rail, but in reality the only thing “high” was the cost—the train certainly was not going to travel very fast. With an average speed of 39 mph, it would have taken one hour and 15 minutes longer to carry passengers across Ohio than on a 1935 steam train.

The project was an incomplete idea that had a number of things suggesting it was a bad idea to proceed.  That is why I was one of the leading critics against the proposal. When Gov. Kasich took office he immediately decided to turn down $400 million in federal money for this project.  He did the right thing. Unfortunately, most of that money went to California instead.

The project in California that your federal tax money is now being used on has not even started to be built yet, and has turned out to cost significantly more than expected. Rather than $33 billion—which is already a lot of money—it is now estimated to be $98 billion.

This has not only led to uncertainty on whether the project will be built, but a U.S. House committee held hearings to find out how the project could go so poorly so quickly. The project in California is also being managed by the same firm that the Strickland administration paid to plan and design Ohio’s proposed rail in a non-bid proposal that came before the Controlling Board.

This whole situation is troubling on a number of fronts. The first of which is that, though public transportation can be used in good ways, Ohio was even considering wasting millions in taxpayer money for a poorly planned project. The second is that the stimulus money went to California, where it will be wasted. And finally, the money should have been used to help pay down the massive debt that our country has, not contribute to it.  Or it could have been used for highway construction projects since Ohio and nearly every state is facing a significant shortage of funds.

There is no doubt that massive, public projects are a difficult undertaking that require a lot of time, research, and money. We have to be sure that when considering what is best for any group of people, including the citizens of Ohio,  is that we are doing so in the most responsible manner. At a time when Ohio was already facing a huge budget deficit, the 3-C rail could not have been more irresponsible.

In 2010 many people were unhappy that I led the criticism of this plan.  However, what is happening in California and a number of other states is that they are either scrapping their “high-speed” rail plans entirely or are struggling with huge cost over-runs.  It is clear Ohio and its taxpayers would have been hit hard had we proceeded.  Although it is upsetting that U.S. taxpayer money was not put to good use in this situation, we can be pleased that Ohio did the right thing by turning down the federal money and saving millions of dollars for the people of our state. I would hope that lessons have been learned from this experience.

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Rep. Hottinger may be reached by calling (614) 466-1482, e-mailing District71@ohr.state.oh.us, or writing to State Representative Jay Hottinger, 77 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215.