Northeast Ohio's Future Depends on Better Infrastructure
Jay Miller, Crain's
Northeast Ohio’s roads and bridges, its transit systems, and its water and sewer lines are the physical platform for the region’s economic growth, and they are critical to the health and safety of the people who live here.
But, according to the engineers who design, build and maintain that infrastructure in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties, it “is in poor to fair condition and mostly below standard, with many elements approaching the end of their service life.”
That assessment is from the 2019 Report Card for Northeast Ohio’s Infrastructure produced by the Cleveland section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which gives the region’s infrastructure a D+ grade. The group, which is completing its 2023 report, does not include Portage and Summit counties. The report card gave Northeast Ohio’s roads and wastewater D+ grades, while the bridges and drinking water got C- grades.
Report cards for Ohio and for the nation in 2021 gave both geographies C- grades.
In its national report, the ASCE said, “Growing wear and tear on our nation’s roads have left 43% of our public roadways in poor or mediocre condition, a number that has remained stagnant over the past several years.” In the state report, the engineers note that the state’s infrastructure systems “are indispensable for the various industries in Ohio, particularly goods-producing sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and mining.”
The state report added that increased spending on infrastructure will have short-term and long-term benefits. The spending will reduce the cost of materials, lower the cost to deliver goods and reduce the dependency on imports.
That condition takes a hit on everyone’s wallet. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation last year estimated that driving on roads in need of repair costs every Ohio driver $506 a year.
Federal, state and local agencies pour billions of dollars a year into the region’s infrastructure to get that low grade but that grade may be getting a boost from recent federal legislation. Between the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the 117th Congress committed to investing $1.25 trillion across the nation’s transportation, energy, water resources and broadband sectors for the next five to 10 years. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s office estimated that the IIJA alone will deliver nearly $14 billion to Ohio, including $9.7 billion for roads and bridges, $1.4 billion for clean drinking water infrastructure and $1.2 billion for public transportation.
Because of the boost in federal dollars, ODOT director Jack Marchbanks told the Ohio House Finance Committee in February, his department’s fiscal year 2024-25 budget will increase by 25% over the previous two-year budget. Half the dollars will be federal money. However, he added that the cost of materials for roads and bridges increased 11.4% last year. While it expects price declines in some materials, including lumber, the Associated General Contractors of America in February reported that increases in other materials will offset those declines.
In addition, in a time when local contractors are having a hard time finding workers, local agencies are gearing up to build the workforce needed to turn these plans into better roads, bridges and underground systems.
“This is one of the most prosperous times in construction we’ve seen in decades,” said David Wondolowski, executive director of the Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council.
“Manpower is going to be impacted by the volume of work that we have here.”
Wondolowski said the more than two dozen labor groups he represents are working to recruit new workers into the building trades.
Gina Beim, an adjunct lecturer with Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, teaches a seminar called “Pipes, Potholes and Pathogens: Infrastructure Issues in the USA.” According to Beim, the engineering society report cards indicate that a major reason for the low grades was a lack of funding.
As she presented the issues to her students, many were puzzled, she said in a telephone interview.
“Why isn’t there more money? Where’s the money going to come from? How are we going to decide what to do first?” she said they asked.
The answer they came up with: “Because there are so many needs.”