TRAC Scoring

The Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) was established to develop and oversee the project selection process for major new transportation projects. In addition to selecting the best transportation projects, the process is designed to target investments toward projects that spur responsible growth – in terms of employment, job creation, business retention, and property development. The Office of Jobs & Commerce is responsible for scoring project criteria pertaining to these factors.

Economic Impact – Return on Investment
Transportation investments have the potential to lower logistics costs for businesses in Ohio, providing these companies a competitive edge over their national and global competitors. Transportation also provides improved access and makes areas more attractive for business and industrial expansion. The TRAC specifically encourages such investments for their benefit to employment, job creation, and business retention.

Improving growth opportunities which increase land values ultimately leads to increased revenues for local communities and the state to fund infrastructure projects. The Office of Jobs & Commerce is responsible for running a model to calculate the potential Return on Investment (ROI) the transportation project can provide to the state. The ROI analysis includes many factors which could be improved by construction of the project, or which would be at risk if the project were not built. The existing businesses in the area of the project are included, as well as potential businesses which could be supported by the project.

Considering Factors of Economic Distress
Local sponsors often seek transportation projects in order to improve a region’s economic fortunes. Some regions are at an inherent disadvantage due to economic distress. To promote transportation investment in economically disadvantaged areas, the Office of Jobs & Commerce conducts a county-level analysis of five-year unemployment and poverty averages. Projects receive points based on how the project area’s distress indicators compare to the state average.

Adopting Appropriate Land Use Measures
The linkage between transportation and land use is well established: transportation improvements have the potential to stimulate real estate development, and indeed that is the goal of some local project sponsors. Sometimes, however, unintended negative consequences can occur when local agencies do not coordinate or plan for the impacts of a transportation project on growth. The result can be wasteful development patterns, or the need to retrofit transportation projects after they are built.

The TRAC finds it to be in the public interest to adequately plan for both land use and transportation investments in concert with one another. The Office of Jobs & Commerce looks for the following criteria when reviewing each project application:

• A comprehensive land use plan, strategic plan, thoroughfare plan, neighborhood plan, or master community plan adopted by the city, county, or township for the geographic area that is reasonably expected to be impacted by the project under consideration. The plan must be less than twelve years old or show evidence of regular updates reflecting development patterns in the coverage area.
• The land use plan should be coordinated with the transportation plan or project.
• The appropriate city or county has zoning in place that is conducive to the project under consideration.
• The project is part of a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) long range plan, a regional planning commission transportation/thoroughfare plan, or ODOT’s statewide transportation plan.