Report finds good news, bad news for Greater Akron’s infrastructure

The current condition of the region’s transportation infrastructure is a mix of good news and bad news, according a new report released by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS).  The report finds that Greater Akron’s major roads are in better condition than those in Northeast Ohio’s other metropolitan areas, but they are in slightly worse condition than others across the state. 

Using information from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), AMATS finds that nearly half of the area’s roads are in “good” condition, but a significant portion are in “poor” condition.  Among the key findings of the report are:

·         71 of the region’s 984 bridges are classified as “structurally deficient,” meaning that they will require significant investment to be brought back to a state of good repair.

·         The average age of a bridge in the Greater Akron area is 49 years old.

·         12 percent of the area’s major roads are in “poor” condition.

·         Overall, our roads and bridges are in a reasonably good state of repair, but keeping them that way will be an ongoing and costly proposition, which will consume a large proportion of our region’s limited transportation funds.

·         Significantly improving our bridge and pavement conditions is likely to require nearly all of our region’s currently available federal and state highway dollars.

·         In order to significantly improve bridge and pavement conditions, AMATS, ODOT, and local governments will need to make a concerted and coordinated effort to have road and bridge maintenance, rather than congestion relief, be the top transportation priority in our region.

·         With an average age of 49, our bridges, especially, are likely to require a larger and larger share of our limited transportation funds in the coming years, simply to maintain the maintenance status quo.

·         Given that our region is declining in population and that Ohio ranks 45th in population growth; and given that vehicle miles traveled and transportation revenues remain stagnant, we should avoid building additional highway capacity, and instead, “fix-it-first.”

Copies of the AMATS: The State of Our Region’s Transportation Infrastructure report and a summary sheet of report findings and policy conclusions accompany are available online at amatsplanning.org.  For additional information, please contact Jason Segedy at 330-375-2436 or by email at JSegedy@AkronOhio.gov.