U.S. Route 30 is the prime east-west truck route in the Fourth Ohio District, and serves as the chief alternative to the Ohio Turnpike and Interstate 70.  Drastic increases in truck traffic over the years have led to a disturbing number of accidents on the narrow two-lane segments of this highway.  Obviously, the need for a four-lane upgrade has never been more crucial.

Throughout my time in the House of Representatives, I have supported the Route 30 modernization project.  Although responsibility for the modernization lies mostly with the Ohio Department of Transportation, I have worked closely with my fellow Ohio members of Congress to ensure that Ohio gets its fair share of federal highway dollars.  I have repeatedly stressed to ODOT that the Route 30 project should be a top-level construction priority.  In 1998, I escorted then-Director of ODOT Jerry Wray on a driving tour of Route 30 to emphasize to him the need for action in upgrading the inadequate road to four lanes.

In the last two major transportation authorization bills, I was successful in securing more than $21 million for the new Route 30 in Hancock, Wyandot, Crawford, and Richland Counties.  Since then, we have seen completion of the four-lane highway between Upper Sandusky and Bucyrus (2004) and between Bucyrus and Ontario (2005).  Also, ground was broken in 2005 for the final Hancock and Wyandot County segments yet to be completed--the last such segments in Northwest Ohio.  With passage of the 2005 highway bill, the Route 30 modernization is fully paid for and on schedule for completion--the culmination of more than four decades of hard work.