Posted on 11/06/2010 2:10:19 PM PDT by 50mm
Gov.-elect John Kasich is calling on Gov. Ted Strickland to immediately end two studies of the 3C passenger rail route across Ohio, saying the train plan is as good as dead under a Kasich administration.
Strickland and his transportation director, Jolene Molitoris, should sever the 3C contracts right away, said Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Kasich. The governor-elect plans to communicate that in a letter to Strickland, Nichols said.
"Given that the train is dead under John, no additional state or taxpayer dollars should be spent on this project," Nichols said.
Kasich wants the Ohio Department of Transportation to terminate contracts with two consultants valued at up to $25 million. That money would come out of $400million in federal stimulus funds that Ohio was awarded this year to restart passenger train service along the I-71 corridor.
The state has entered into contracts with PB Americas Inc. and CH2M Hill Inc. to study the environmental effects of the train service and to work with freight railroads on sharing tracks. But most of the work on those contracts remains unfinished.
The initial phase of the contracts is estimated at $15 million. State officials could not say yesterday how much work on those contracts has been completed.
Under the contracts, the state can end work at any time and pay only for work completed up to that point.
During the campaign, Kasich criticized the passenger rail service as slow and impractical for all but a few Ohioans.
Scott Varner, a spokesman for Molitoris, said yesterday that the Ohio Department of Transportation is not terminating the 3C contracts.
The Strickland administration still is trying to sell Kasich on the merits of the project as a jobs generator and economic catalyst.
"Over the next several weeks, we will share this insight with the incoming administration," Varner said.
Wisconsin's outgoing Democratic governor, Jim Doyle, this week asked contractors to halt work on a planned high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison. The order came after Scott Walker, a Republican critic of the train project, was elected governor.
New York's governor-elect, Andrew Cuomo, has asked federal officials to award rail-designated stimulus money to his state if Ohio and Wisconsin reject it.
Advocates of the 3C plan in Ohio say it's foolish for Kasich to hand Ohio's $400million to another state.
"To me, derailing 3C is akin to shunning a lifeboat in the face of this looming, iceberg-sized threat to our delicate economic security," wrote Kenneth Prendergast of All Aboard Ohio.
Willie Green is gonna be pissed!
If Indiana kills it, that will effectively kill it here in Michigan as well.
I just don’t see how consultants could be paid so much.
Michigan’s gov.-elect is also republican if I recall correctly. He’ll probably kill it regardless.
Your tax dollars at work, whether you live in Ohio or not. They were paid with federal “stimulus” dollars.
Taxpayers should celebrate.
Yeah but here in Illinois under the Mighty Quinn we’ll probably have free trains to every pasture and podunk in the state, after all riding the choo-choo is FUN when money is FREE!
The stupid spending must stop. It is that simple.
They said that about Gov. Christie too that he was too moderate. Turned out pretty good for NJ.
Here is the shit that cracks me up about Ohio libtards.
Ohio is laced with railways, Highways and Canals, and Seaports.
All once used fore moving goods in a thriving commerce.
I said 2 decades ago that they would be smart to use the infrastructure to become a central distribution point for goods. (Think Amazon.com)
What did they do? They tore out the railways to replace them with bike trails.
Sure. The parks are great but they dont create jobs.
Now they want to put in new rail?
Stupid libtards.
He’s not a strong conservative. He’s good on fiscal issues though.
He’s got a tough job cleaning up the fiscal mess left by ‘rat Strickland.
And notice what their work product is - "study the environmental effects of the train service and to work with freight railroads on sharing tracks".
To understand how they could be paid so much - how ANY consultant to the government can - you will have to discover who they are, and who they know.
A study of the environmental effects of train service is no work at all, since trains run all day every day. Their environmental effects are well understood. To "work with" freight railroads probably means shaking them down, for even more ill-gotten gains.
Kasich called it the “39-MPH High Speed train”.
You did. Not even close. Do you not know that Kasich is the man who knocked heads and engineered the balanced budget in the '90's that everybody and his brother left and right now wants to claim credit for?
Cuomo thinks there really is a money tree in Washington.
Even my ‘express’ run averages ony 45mph on 80mph tracks. Gotta figger what it takes to slow a 500 ton train down every couple miles and start it up again, not very cost effective.
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