The Plan is important because it s guiding infrastructure investments on Ohio s multi-modal freight network every day.

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1 (Introduce self and any others with you.) Thanks for allowing me/us to be here today to share some of the highlights in Transport Ohio, the Ohio Department of Transportation s statewide freight plan. The Plan is important because it s guiding infrastructure investments on Ohio s multi-modal freight network every day. And ODOT didn t come up with the Plan in a vacuum. We received lots of input from stakeholders and the public that is incorporated into it, so it s definitely a joint effort. And, if any of those folks are here in the room today, we appreciate your input and continued collaboration. This Plan is justone milestone in a continuing conversation. The reason you should know about TransportOhiois because improving the safety and efficiency of how goods and people move in and out of our state affects us all. Whether or notyou re in the transportation industry. 1

2 It goes way beyond that. Because Ohio s transportation infrastructure supports all 5.5 million jobs in the state. Think about it you buy things, everyone does. So goods have to come here. And Ohio produces goods that we sell to the rest of the world. And business today is all about meeting deadlines so the dependable delivery of goods is critical. Raise your hand if you ve bought something online and had to be sure it shipped in time for Christmas or a birthday. So you get it. But it has larger implications than whether we hand over a gift on time. Ohio manufacturers, like Honda, keep only four hours of parts inventory on hand, counting on just in time delivery by truck, train and plane. If those parts don t get there, the assembly line stops. Trust me: Honda takes every step possible to make sure that assembly line doesn t stop. And a well-run transportation network is key. And, everyone has to get to work. So you see how critical transportation is to us all. 2

3 But back to our freight story. Consider that Ohio: is just a 1-day drive from more than 60 percent of the U.S. and Canadian populations Has the nation s 4 th largest interstate system (and second most bridges, behind Texas) the 4 th most rail lines the 8 th most maritime tonnage Is 2 nd in the number of intermodal facilities (For thoseof you not familiar: an intermodal facility is a place that integrates rail and truck services, and sometimes air connections, to move products to market cost-efficiently.) Ohio is also a well-established base for companies moving goods around the world. Based on our strategic location and all these assets, it s pretty easy to see why Ohio is such a pivotal player when it comes to freight movement in today s global marketplace. But freight movement is incredibly competitive. So how can we preserve what we have and bring even more jobs and revenue to our state? 3

4 By taking care of what we have and making smart improvements to assets like our major interstates. I don t know if you realize this, but it s very unusual to have so many major highways these serve as truckers lifelines and allow trucks to go almost everywhere to deliver goods to your local grocery store. Or to the manufacturing plant. 4

5 So how do we keep Ohio s highways running smoothly? We take care of what we have through solid maintenance and monitoring. We use Intelligent Transportation Systems to ease traffic congestion.wemonitor routes and alert truck drivers and logistics planners to temporary delays. You ve seen the digital boards on highways telling you how many minutes to the next exit and things like that, right? You can also log onto OHGO and see which highways are congested or free flowing. We also provide and promote alternative routes. We have rest areas so truckers can stop and sleep instead of driving when they re dangerously tired. We re also adding natural gas fuel stations to support trucking companies that are moving away from diesel to be more green. 5

6 And that s just our roads. We are happy to report that Ohio s rail infrastructure is in excellent condition with efficient switching terminals, good operating speeds and significant investments in new intermodal facilities. The result? Ohio s rail system is carrying record amounts of freight tonnage. Private companies own and operate the railroads, but we work closely with them and our partners at the Ohio Rail Development Commission. We have built overpasses over the railroads and improved roadway access to intermodal facilities like at Rickenbacker, North Baltimore and Marion. Also, a lot of money has been spent to raise the height of Ohio tunnels and bridges to allow double stacked trains to pass under. Youcan see the doublestackshere in the slide photo. They significantly increase train productivity as they can carry twice as much at one time And with Transport Ohio, we plan to keep it that way. 6

7 Did you know Ohio serves 38 states through our ports and waterways? It s more economical to move goods by water when shipping heavy things that don t have to arrive overnight like coal. This saves about $10 a ton on transportation costs providing more than $7 billion a year in transportation savings to the U.S. economy. Now we DO have an issue in Ohio because our dams and locks are deteriorating. But even though ODOT isn t responsible for maintaining them, we re working to with our partners to tackle the problem. That s part of Transport Ohio s mission too, going outside our box to keep Ohio moving. 7

8 Ohio has morethan 100 publicly-funded airports. (ODOT Office of Aviation can confirm latest number as smaller airports off the list.) Airplanes typically carry high value cargo that absolutely has to be delivered quickly. While UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service are the major air freight movers, Amazon is joining this market and more cargo is also moving in the bellies of commercial carriers. Meanwhile, medical cargo and other high value goods move in and out of smaller airports. LabCorp, for example, uses The Ohio StateUniversityAirport to transport medical test results quickly. However, all air cargo begins or ends its journey on a truck, which creates the need for good connecting roads. ODOT is working to improve these road networks to help Ohio grow air cargo operations another benefit to our state s economy. 8

9 So now we re going to talk about how we make these improvements. It takes money and lots of it. While ODOT doesn t have specific funds available for rail, water and aviationinvestments, there IS funding available through multiple agencies, and we re often the one who gets everyone around the same table to collaborate. Some of the groupsinvolved include (READ A FEW FROM THE LIST BELOW) Municipalities, counties, townships Air, water and inland port authorities Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission Ohio Rail Development Commission The Ohio Development Services Agency Metropolitan planning organizations Transportation officials Trucking & logistics companies Railroads & pipeline owners Shippers, farmers, manufacturing plants Warehousing and distribution center owners This is another instance where the TransportOhio Freight Plan serves the greater good. ODOT sees the big picture and works with everyone to build and fund infrastructure in a more mutually beneficial way. The collaboration among all these entities continues to increase. And that s good news for Ohio! 9

10 Let s jump ahead now and look at the future of freight in Ohio. Just like in real estate it s all about location. Ohio is a very strategic location for delivering goods to the most populous markets in North America, but surrounding Midwestern states can make that same claim. A good transportation network can be the deciding factor for companies to move or expand here. So we must keep our infrastructure strong for this and all the other business reasons we ve stated. But transportation funding continues to stay flat. The federal gas tax, last increased in the early nineties, is a major source of funds but is not indexed to inflation. So those revenues don t go as far as they used to. Also, when people drive less or drive alternatively-fueled vehicles, we collect less gas tax, so while we have more demand we have fewer dollars to keep up with it. 10

11 That means ODOT will continue to do more with less to ensure Ohio s economic competitiveness. We can t just keep expanding our roads, or pave our way out of congestion. So we are looking at innovative ways to move more people using the highway network we already have. For example, we may use what we call Active Traffic and Demand Management strategies that include things like re-purposing the highway shoulders for use by buses or cars. Ramp meters, also shown here, merge traffic more efficiently onto highways. We are managing our assets more strategically. We have an extensive database of all the infrastructure assets ODOT owns and we are being aggressive with preventive maintenance to save money. We must be nimble in adapting our policies and programs. We know the future is unpredictable and we must be ready to respond. For example, no one foresaw 20 years ago all the shale production in Southeast Ohio. Those roads weren t built for the heavy use experienced during peak production periods, but ODOT provides solutions fast because that s our job. 11

12 We re lucky that Ohio has many growth industries such as food production, manufacturing and logistics. They require Ohio to handle massive amounts of freight. China s growing need for energy spells opportunity for Ohio. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that Ohio will soon be exporting more natural gas due to increased shale gas production. The Panama Canal expansion may mean goods from Asia will come through East Coast ports and Ohio instead of through California. If so, Ohio s is well-positioned to benefit with our rail and intermodal facilities. Increasing trade with South and Central America may change supply chains and freight flows. We have to be ready to move quickly to accommodate these emerging markets. Mega-regions are also an important factor in the economy. These are groups of urban areas that share a lot of commonalities and large populations. The more people that live in an area, the more goods they attract. (Ohio is part of the Great Lakes Mega-Region.) Bottom line: Ohio s freight network needs to keep pace with increased demand. 12

13 And let s not forget the fun stuff. Technology is going to make an impact on how Ohio moves goods. Autonomous cars and trucks are coming! And these will make roads safer and help traffic move more efficiently. E-commerce could affect us a lot. It may cause more warehouses and distribution centers to relocate to Ohio to take advantage of our central location close to customers. This may shift truck traffic to less used roadways. Increased demand for next day home delivery could force businesses to change their trucking practices which affects road usage. And increased deliveries on local streets could lead to more creative ways to manage traffic in residential neighborhoods and urban areas(odot add technology examples that we haven t already mentioned) All of this affects ODOT s planning for our roads, rail, air and water systems. And there are many more trends affecting our future freight system I haven t mentioned. Otherwise, we d be here all day. But you can read about them in TransportOhio, ODOT s freight plan. I ll give you the web link to the Plan shortly. 13

14 As ODOT watches all these trends, we have specific recommendations to help us maximize freight movement for Ohio. First is ODOT s recommendation for a new Transportation System Maintenance and Operation or TISMO plan. You ll be seeing and hearing a lot more about TSMO as it represents a new approach to problem-solving that s become a high priority nationwide. What is it? TSMO uses real time technology to solve traffic and congestion problems with minimal dollar investment. You ve already heard earlier about autonomous cars and Intelligent Transportation Systems. But there s much more. For example, there are smart sensors mounted on light poles and the sides of buildings to provide data on everything from flooding to congestion patterns to bike traffic. Chicago has been heralded for its advances in this area with their Array of Things project to collect and share city data. (You can refer to the pix shown here if you like) The ultimate goal is to allow cities/towns to make decisions in real time as events or emergencies occur on our transportation system to reduce their impact on our daily lives.examples : o TSM&O allows traffic managers to make sure everything functions together to keep drivers moving regardless of crashes, weather and work zones. o Hurricane Matthew (in Oct 2016) caused flooding and lost lives for trapped drivers. In the future, a TSMO-run transportation system would notify drivers about roads closed due to bad weather and perhaps save lives. 14

15 TSMO shifts ODOT from being output-focused to becoming operations-oriented. ODOT has already done some studies and will build on the experiences of other states to develop Ohio s plan. 14

16 This recommendation is about TPIMS: a Truck Parking Information and Management System that will automatically count parking spaces and alert truck drivers where they re available via the internet or road signs. What happens is that the rest stops we have for truckers to get their mandated hours of sleep get filled up on busy routes. Then truckers have to stop in places that aren t so safe, like on road shoulders. The shoulders aren t meant for this and break apart which costs ODOT unplanned maintenance dollars. TPIMS will let drivers know where the safe spots are and help ODOT prevent road wear and tear. ODOT has already talked to neighboring states about developing a multi-state system to maximize benefits and share costs. 15

17 Next up is a new maritime study. Why is this so important? Ohio ports are owned by a mix of public and private entities. As a result, there s no single group tasked with optimizing our waterways for maximum performance on our freight network. And master planning is hard financially and logistically for many port operators. You heard earlier that our locks and dams are deteriorating. This new study will help coordinate a plan to address that. ODOTwill set aside funds to assemble a multi-agency committee to help inventory existing conditions and make port improvements that will best serve our freight customers making the most out of this added competitive dimension to Ohio s freight service that many other states don t have. 16

18 And of course, ODOT is creating or continuingexisting policies to support freight successand to align with national freight goals. We re monitoring high crash areas on our freight system and working on solutions to improve safety. We re working to create a freight system that supports a competitive and thriving Ohio economyto attract and retain business. This means keeping everyone moving. We ll be rolling out several roadway pilot projects with ramp metering and hard shoulder running to reduce traffic congestion in some of our bigger cities. We re considering how to reduce the negative effects of our freight transportation system on the environment(insert examples here) 17

19 ODOT is finding more cost-effective ways topreserve our existing assets:roads, bridges, rail, air and waterways. Forexample, we re using chip seal on less used roads which is a fourth of the cost of other types of paving. We are collecting data on ALL transportation assets and making it available to the public and partner agencies so they can make smarter decisions. And finally, we re being good stewards of public money. We re using our limited funds to do more proactive maintenance than ever before to make our roads and bridges last longer. 18

20 The last part of Transport Ohio I have to share with you is this map.it shows areas of the state where ODOTwill be investing FAST Act dollars for the next several years. What are FAST Act dollars? These are mostly existingtransportation dollars that the government is designating strictly for freight improvements under the latest federal transportation bill: The Fixing America s Surface Transportation Act...better known as the FAST Act. We vebeen saying all along how critical freight movement is to Ohio and the national economy. Well the FAST Act bears this out. So even though the FAST Act didn t bring significant new funds to transportation overall, it does ensure that fixing freight bottlenecks and congestion on existing roadways is a top priority. Transport Ohio has more details on these specific projects. 19

21 That s Transport Ohio. Ohio s Freight Plan for the next 20 years and beyond in about 20 slides. As any good plan should, Transport Ohio has some built-in requirements. Itrequires thatodot track the performance of the policies and recommendations we ve laid out here to ensure they re working. It requires updating about every 5 years. And again, like any good plan, it identifies funding sources to help make what we ve been talking about a reality. I hope you will continue to partner with us as we preserve Ohio s great transportation network and keep up with the many changes ahead. Ohio s residents and businesses are depending on us to deliver. 20

22 Here s how to access the Transport Ohio Freight Plan online. (read web address) Thanks for your attention. (Offer to field questions as you see fit) 21