Ohio agency releases highway, infrastructure funds

The Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) has released project allocations for its most recent annual round of infrastructure funding, as a collection of nearly 20 district committees helped select 564 projects that, combined, will receive about $324 million in funding.

At least one project receiving funding will take place in each of the states' 88 counties, with funding allocated based on a variety of factors, including health and safety, age and condition and number of users affected by the problem to be addressed, according to the OPWC.

Of the total allocated, about 62.5 percent ($202.5 million) will go toward road projects. Water, wastewater and stormwater projects, at $93.1 million, or 28.7 percent, represent the next largest portion, while bridge and culvert improvement projects have received $28.3 million in funding, or 8.7 percent of the total.

In the Cleveland area, some of the larger grants include one for $5 million and another for $4 million to improve roadways on the city’s east side. Another $5.1 million grant will go toward replacing a bridge in the city’s western suburbs.

The largest allocation in the Cincinnati area is a $3.3 million grant to widen a road in Hamilton County while in the Columbus region, a $5.4 million grant is earmarked to improve several roadways in the suburb of Bexley.

In the northwest Ohio region that includes Toledo, the single biggest OPWC grant is for $1.4 million and will go toward reconstructing and repaving a road on the city’s northwest side.

“We are pleased to announce another round of grants and loans awarded to Ohio’s local governments for needed infrastructure,” OPWC Director Linda Bailiff says. “We thank the district committees for their work. This program’s successful partnership between the state and local governments ensures public health and safety and improves the economic welfare of Ohioans.”