Meeting      Notice

OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

DIVISION OF COMMUNICATIONS - 1980 W. Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43223

http://www.dot.state.oh.us 

** MEETING NOTICE ONLY ** 

Notice of Regularly Scheduled TRAC Meeting 

COLUMBUS – Ohio’s Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) will convene its first meeting of 2009 on Thursday, February 19, at 10:00 a.m., at the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Central Office in Columbus. 

This will be the first TRAC meeting for Jolene M. Molitoris, who was named ODOT director by Governor Ted Strickland last month. Ms. Molitoris will serve as the chair of TRAC. 

WHAT:           Regularly Scheduled TRAC Meeting 

WHEN:           Thursday, February 19, 2009

   10:00 a.m.  

WHERE:        ODOT Central Office

  1980 W. Broad Street

  Room GA

  Columbus, Ohio 43223 

Last year, the TRAC debated, voted, and approved new scoring criteria to more evenly measure projects of various modes. New highways, passenger rail, transit, and freight projects all have a level playing field to compete for state dollars. In the future, the TRAC will also score projects using a benefit/cost ratio, added to measure the full public benefit of the project, not just how many cars are moved from point A to B. A new environmental category gauges air quality impacts of a project and a “beefed up” economic development category scores whether projects reclaim brownfields and improve access to job centers and job ready sites. The scoring also emphasizes the need for land use planning and “Smart Growth” strategies, and rewards communities who partner with state on investments in transportation. 

For more information, contact Scott Varner (ODOT Central Office Communications) at 614-644-8640.