You all knew it wouldn't take long.... (Columbus, Cleveland: leasing, maintenance)

[Cleveland_Collector]

Let's sell the Turnpike!!!

"Wouldn't it be fantastic if I could take another country in Ohio called the turnpike, if I could privatize it and generate as much as $2.5 billion, potentially? We'll see," Kasich said. ---This is, like, a Palin WTF moment!

[Ohiogirl81]

"Wouldn't it be fantastic if I could take another country in Ohio called the turnpike, if I could privatize it and generate as much as $2.5 billion, potentially? We'll see," Kasich said. "If we can't get it, we probably won't do it."

What does that sentence even mean? English isn't his first language, is it?

[Alaskapat528]

The next time you drive down a road with one lane closed or have to take a detour, and you have 5 State trucks and a whole slew of State workers doing nothing, then maybe this isn't a bad idea. We saw this over and over while we were down there.

[Ohiogirl81]

Such a Debbie Downer! Like holding up a shovel is exclusive to Ohio road crews. Or like leasing the turnpike would mean that it's magically immune to potholes and deterioration. Read the comments in the link about the difference in maintenance between the Indiana Toll Road and the Ohio Turnpike.

You probably weren't on the turnpike, anyway; it's the best-maintained road in the state.

[Dumbdowndemocrats]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

The next time you drive down a road with one lane closed or have to take a detour, and you have 5 State trucks and a whole slew of State workers doing nothing, then maybe this isn't a bad idea. We saw this over and over while we were down there.

I agree the state and local unionized workers act as if they are empowered some how and need to realize the taxpayers write their checks and we want a return for our money....public service with a smile.

[Cleveland_Collector]

There goes Alaskapat and her visions from an alternate reality again.

The OH State Turnpike is one of the best kept stretches of interstate highway in the country. I'll take the union I-80/90 over that overly expensive, for-profit-washboard-they-call-a-freeway I-80/90 in Indiana any day.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Such a Debbie Downer! Like holding up a shovel is exclusive to Ohio road crews. Or like leasing the turnpike would mean that it's magically immune to potholes and deterioration. Read the comments in the link about the difference in maintenance between the Indiana Toll Road and the Ohio Turnpike.

You probably weren't on the turnpike, anyway; it's the best-maintained road in the state.

I guess we who live in the real world would look like Debbie Downers to those who refuse to. I can't argue that Ohio road crews are any worse then any other state's road crews; my point is that state run DOTs are extremely wasteful.

Did you see that story recently, the DOT spends a lot more on salt because they pay far more then they have to for it? My point is that in every case I have ever seen, a private company will do a better job and a lot cheaper then a government agency. Thus maybe the idea of privatizing the turnpike wouldn't be so bad, considering the problems facing Columbus and their budget.

As for your comparison to Indiana, if Indiana were the only other state I would consider your point. Last summer we drove from Anchorage to Ohio and covered 12 states and 4 Providences of Canada. For your information there were no tolls on the highways west of Illinois, and the roads were just as good as, and in many cases better then the Ohio Turnpike. But I guess you would actually have to leave Ohio to know that.

As a matter of fact we had just driven well over 4000 miles when we got a flat near Toledo on the Turnpike. It turns out that it was a piece of metal probably dropped on the road by the the road crew according to the tire shop owner, because he had seen a lot of it lately.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by Cleveland_Collector

There goes Alaskapat and her visions from an alternate reality again.

The OH State Turnpike is one of the best kept stretches of interstate highway in the country. I'll take the union I-80/90 over that overly expensive, for-profit-washboard-they-call-a-freeway I-80/90 in Indiana any day.

Ah, rah - rah.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

My point is that in every case I have ever seen, a private company will do a better job and a lot cheaper then a government agency.

The point is ... seeing as you missed it ... is this: Indiana has leased its toll road, and said toll road's maintenance is far less effective (lousy snow removal, poor surface, etc.) than that of the turnpike commission-run Ohio Turnpike.

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

I guess we who live in the real world would look like Debbie Downers to those who refuse to. I can't argue that Ohio road crews are any worse then any other state's road crews; my point is that state run DOTs are extremely wasteful.

Did you see that story recently, the DOT spends a lot more on salt because they pay far more then they have to for it? My point is that in every case I have ever seen, a private company will do a better job and a lot cheaper then a government agency. Thus maybe the idea of privatizing the turnpike wouldn't be so bad, considering the problems facing Columbus and their budget.

As for your comparison to Indiana, if Indiana were the only other state I would consider your point. Last summer we drove from Anchorage to Ohio and covered 12 states and 4 Providences of Canada. For your information there were no tolls on the highways west of Illinois, and the roads were just as good as, and in many cases better then the Ohio Turnpike. But I guess you would actually have to leave Ohio to know that.

As a matter of fact we had just driven well over 4000 miles when we got a flat near Toledo on the Turnpike. It turns out that it was a piece of metal probably dropped on the road by the the road crew according to the tire shop owner, because he had seen a lot of it lately.

I have traveled all over the country, and am originally from Indiana. Ohio has pretty damn good roads. When you were driving in the Toledo area, did you happen to drive north across the border into the F graded infrastructure of Michigan? Have you been to some of the southern states? I would hope that states out west have better roads... their population density doesn't even come close to eastern states.