Let’s declare war on potholes throughout Mahoning Valley

Cities, villages and townships in Ohio continue to recover from one of the most brutal winters in history — with the battle scars to prove it. Hundreds of miles of pockmarked Mahoning Valley roadways and hundreds of thousands of frustrated Valley motorists take a daily beating in the bumpy mess that Old Man Winter has left behind.

That’s why it’s terrific news that the city of Youngstown has amassed a pot of about $6 million to repave and repair eight major thoroughfares and numerous neighborhood streets. Considering it costs about $100,000 to repave one mile of road, a healthy chunk of the city’s grid of roadways will see noticeable improvements.

What’s more, only a fraction of that sum will come directly from city coffers. Of the $4.8 million needed to repave the eight major streets, for example, only $500,000 or about 10 percent will be drawn directly from the Youngstown budget. State, federal and other grant programs provide the lion’s share.

The size and scope of this summer’s city road improvement program is no mean feat considering the triple whammy that Youngstown and most other local communities in Ohio endure in battling the war against potholes: skyrocketing repaving costs, plummeting local tax receipts and sizeable losses in state aid.

That’s why communities should consider following Youngstown’s model in aggressively seeking creative financing mechanisms to plug the countless craters on their thoroughfares.

Fortunately for local governments, a plethora of programs provides avenues for financial support for street improvements, most notably the federal Community Development Block Grant program and Ohio’s State Issue 1 initiative, recently given the green light by Ohio voters to expand over the next 10 years.

On the federal level, Vice President Joe Biden is leading an initiative to persuade Congress to make a larger commitment to communities for infrastructure improvements. At a stop in Cleveland last week to promote the campaign to invest more in road and bridge work, he argued, ‘‘Those in Congress who lack vision say we can’t afford to make these investments, but how can we not afford to make these investments?”

He cited one study that shows the U.S. needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2020 but spends only 1 percent of its gross domestic product on infrastructure and ranks 18th in the world for the quality of its roads. That embarrassing ranking should rankle local government leaders and all Americans to pressure their congressional representatives to support the administration’s initiative.

Economies of scale

Short of federal and state help, communities themselves can band together to create economies of scale to increase road-improvement mileage while decreasing total costs. Last year, for example, Austintown, Boardman and Canfield consolidated their paving budgets into one super pot of $1.2 million from which substantially more roads were resurfaced. Other communities should emulate their example.

When push comes to shove, tried and true methods of funding road projects through local tax levies specifically earmarked for such work can successfully reach intended ends. In Liberty Township, residents this May approved one of the few additional levies that passed in the Valley to repair a plethora of pockmarked township roads. The $35 in additional local taxes annually costs far less than a new tire or an alignment job. Plus, the estimated $226,000 yearly the 1.5-mill levy generates will be matched several times over by grant programs that require local matches.

The benefits of roads free of large lunar nodules transcend comfort and safety for motorists. Strong streets also help to drive economic development and enhance quality of life. As such, communities large and small in the Valley should declare war on potholes and exhaust all potential funding vehicles to speed up overall road improvements.