The following public bodies are responsible for planning and implementing transportation projects in Northeast Ohio.

Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT)

The largest and most influential transportation player in Northeast Ohio is ODOT. Statewide, the transportation department oversees a $2.5 billion budget (in 2005), which is divided generally into capital and operating funds. Capital funding of $1.8 billion provides for new highway construction, major repairs and maintenance programs. ODOT typically receives about $1 billion per year from the Federal Highway Administration, mostly for capital projects. Operating funding of $700 million provides for administrative and labor costs, as well as for supplies, materials and services. Example includes snow removal and highway lighting. In the seven-county Northeast Ohio region, ODOT-administered capital funding was approximately $675 million, while operating funding was about $189 million.

ODOT is divided into 12 regional districts, with Cuyahoga, Geauga and Lake counties within District 12. Local governments and metropolitan planning organizations like the Northeast Ohio Coordinating Agency (see NOACA) submit project funding applications to an appointed board called the Transportation Review Advisory Committee (TRAC), which awards funding based on scoring system measured by criteria (traffic, safety, etc.) met by the project.

Funding for highway programs comes from state and federal gasoline taxes. The Ohio Constitution prohibits the spending of state gas taxes on anything other than public highways. Transit funding is allocated by the Ohio General Assembly from the state’s general fund ($18.3 million statewide in 2005) and administered by ODOT’s Public Transit Division.

Also, The Ohio Rail Development Commission is an independent state agency (a 2005 budget of about $30 million) within ODOT that oversees grants and loans to smaller freight railroads for track rehabilitation and construction of industrial sidings. It also is undertaking the Ohio Hub System planning for fast intercity passenger and freight trains.

Ohio Turnpike Commission

The Ohio Turnpike Commission owns and administers the 241-mile Ohio Turnpike, which is part of the Interstate Highway System but separate from ODOT. Nearly 30 percent, or 70 miles, of the turnpike travels through the seven-county Greater Cleveland-Akron region. The turnpike in 2005 had a budget of $211 million, of which $143 million went for operating costs (administrative, labor, materials, etc.) and $68 million for capital projects (major bridge repairs, new toll booths, lane additions etc.). In the Greater Cleveland-Akron region, the turnpike spent about $41.5 million in operating costs, and $20 million in capital, estimated on a lane-mile basis. The turnpike is funded primarily by tolls from drivers and lease revenues from plaza concessionaires.

Ohio Public Works Commission

The Ohio Public Works Commission awards grants and loans from a state bond issue to local governments for water treatment, sewer, drainage, bridge, culvert and road capital improvement projects. Awards are made through a network of 19 regional districts throughout the state (see DOPWIC).

Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA)

Under federal law, metropolitan planning organizations like NOACA set a transportation vision for the urbanized regions they oversee. NOACA establishes project priorities, solicits projects from local governments within its five-county jurisdiction (Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties). NOACA priorities are set by an appointed board composed mostly of local elected officials. Projects are ranked and receive funding according to NOACA’s criteria. Most of its funding, ranging from $30 million to $45 million per year, comes from the federal surface transportation program. NOACA also receives member dues from local governmental jurisdictions, such as cities, villages, and townships. In Summit and Portage counties, a separate metropolitan planning organization exists, the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS).

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA)

In terms of ridership, RTA is Ohio’s largest transit agency and the nation’s 13th largest. It carried 57 million riders in 2005. It operates 1,606 miles of bus routes, including “mainline” buses and community circulators, not including non-fixed-route paratransit buses. RTA also has Ohio’s only rail transit service, with 34 route-miles among the Red, Blue and Green lines. Its budget in 2005 was $340 million, of which $236 million was for operating costs and $120 million for capital improvement projects. Other transit agencies serving Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, primarily from surrounding counties, are Akron Metro Regional Transit Authority, Laketran, Lorain County Transit and the Portage Area Regional Transit Authority. In total, these four transit agencies have an annual budget of about $53 million (operating and capital).

Freight railroads

Although not governmental entities, freight railroads continue to carry a significant amount of tonnage in Northeast Ohio. A daily total of more than 150 freight trains converge on the region using about 600 miles of private routes owned primarily by Norfolk Southern Corp. (NS) and CSX Transportation Inc. (CSX). Unlike public highways, NS and CSX operate the trains on their own tracks and are responsible for the maintenance and improvement of their rights of way, as well as securing financing for capital projects through private lenders. There are also a number of smaller regional, short-line and industrial railroad companies in the area, such as Wheeling & Lake Erie Corp., Newburgh & South Shore Inc. and Flats Industrial Railroad. Amtrak, a federally owned passenger railroad, operates daily trains through Cleveland on NS- and CSX-owned tracks between Chicago and the East Coast.

County engineers

Overseeing road and bridge projects is an elected county engineer and his/her staff. Projects are administered by the county engineer on roads designated as part of the county system. Funding comes from car and truck license registrations, which in 2000 (the most recent year for which data was available) was $28,408,810.19. However, the county engineer may use those funds to leverage money from other local, state and federal sources. All Ohio counties have a county engineer department.

District One Public Works Integrating Committee (DOPWIC)

DOPWIC is an appointed board which oversees the implementation of the State Infrastructure Bond Program and the Local Transportation Improvement Program in Cuyahoga County. There are similar public works districts in all other Ohio counties, although non-urbanized areas typically have multiple counties in a single district. DOPWIC evaluates water treatment, sewer, drainage, bridge, culvert and road capital improvement projects submitted to it by local governments and requests grants or loans for those projects from the Ohio Public Works Commission. In 2005, DOPWIC received $27.47 million in grants and loans, of which $20.78 million went for road projects.

Local governments

Cities, villages, and townships in Cuyahoga and surrounding counties spend significant sums annually on building, improving, widening and maintaining streets and roads within their jurisdictions. They spend equally large amounts “operating” these streets and roads, such as with overhead lighting, traffic signals, snow removal and traffic law enforcement. While precise capital and operating cost figures were not available, an average cost based on the miles of streets within local jurisdictions in the seven-county Cleveland-Akron area was estimated at $540 million for capital costs and $525 million for operating costs.