State's proposed transportation budget includes repeal of interchange requirement

COLUMBUS — Ohio's proposed transportation budget currently includes repealing the requirement to construct interstate highway exchanges under certain conditions. The interchange requirement was originally put in the last transportation budget in 2023. The conditions for an interchange would apply to Interstate 71 on Boston Road on the border of Brunswick and Strongsville. Sub. House Bill 54 is this biennium's transportation budget, and the House recently included language that mirrors House Bill 9 from state Rep. Melanie Miller, R-Ashland, and state Rep. Sharon Ray, R-Wadsworth, and Senate Bill 31 from state Sen. Mark Romanchuk, R-Ontario. The inclusion repeals the interchange requirement and requires the director of transportation and the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency to conduct a study to develop a traffic congestion management plan along I-71 between Pearl Road, Center Road and West 130th Street. The study would have to be completed by Dec. 31, 2026. A report of its findings would need to be sent to the governor, the speaker of the House, the Senate president, chairmen of the House and Senate committees related to transportation and city officials in Brunswick, Strongsville and North Royalton. The state's transportation budget passed in the House on Wednesday with 97 affirmative votes and zero dissenting votes. The bill now moves to the Senate for approval, and the Senate could choose to remove the repeal or the study. NOACA Executive Director Grace Gallucci submitted written testimony in favor of the repeal and the study as part of the Senate Transportation Committee's hearing for Sub. House Bill 54 on Thursday. "However, if NOACA's Board does not believe the repeal of ORC 5510.60 is advancing in the Ohio Legislature, the planned study may be delayed," she wrote. The interchange requirement bypasses the existing legal processes for constructing an interchange, Gallucci said. "In order for this study to provide objective and data-driven analysis as required by the (Federal Highway Administration), it must be conducted without the lingering bias imposed by ORC 5510.60," she wrote. "In other words, the study must start with a blank slate to enable an unbiased examination of all options, leading to recommendations that will comply with federal requirements." Brunswick Vice Mayor Nick Hanek also testified in favor of the repeal and study Thursday. Strongsville completed a preliminary feasibility study for a Boston Road interchange in 2023, he said. The study ruled out an interchange at Boston Road as a viable solution, and former Director of Transportation Jack Marchbanks made a statement with a concurring opinion after looking at its findings. "We can and should work together to solve traffic issues in the region using data and science," he said. "We can trust and work with professionals in the field to come to conclusions that benefit the area." State Sen. Tom Patton, R-Strongsville, is the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. He said Brunswick's master plan from 2005 supported an interchange at Boston Road. "In the three meetings we've had since my election in 2003, Brunswick folks that might predate (Hanek) have always said, 'We love it. We just can't afford the local share,′" he said. Hanek said the city's most-recent comprehensive plan from 2020 does not include support an interchange at Boston Road. There has been a lot of development on both sides since 2005, and the nearby area has become a dense residential area. "I was elected in 2015," he said. "I do not know in that comprehensive plan what that decision making was, but that is certainly not the position of the city of Brunswick today and is not in the city of Brunswick since I've been elected or at least since any of the current administration has been there." Patton said some Strongsville residents suggested turning Howe Road into a cul-de-sac instead to address traffic concerns in the area. "You wouldn't have the Strongsville people cutting through your city, and then it would alleviate that pressure point at (state Route) 82 west," he said. A small percentage of the traffic on Howe Road is Brunswick residents, according to Strongsville's preliminary feasibility study, Hanek said. "At a high level, I really don't have an issue with anything that's done with Howe Road just as much as I'd appreciate Strongsville being OK with what we're going to do, as long as it doesn't impact them," he said. Miller, Ray and Romanchuk's bills, which have the same intent to repeal the requirement and have a study to create a traffic congestion management plan, are still in the beginning stages of the legislative process. Romanchuk provided sponsor testimony for his bill during its first hearing in the Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday. "Members of the General Assembly know nothing about transportation budgets and bring a political bias," he said. "If this language is allowed to stay in the Ohio Revised Code, it will set the dangerous precedent that the General Assembly can legislate highway projects. This will undoubtedly lead to a waste of public dollars." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.