A county engineer hopes to win federal funds to finish the long-delayed extension of Rt. 30, a northeast Ohio highway, by putting a particular local label on the project.
U.S. Route 30 could be Ohio’s third east-west superhighway--but for the 37 miles east of Canton that was never improved to four lanes.
For decades, Ohio’s Department of Transportation has been unable to find money to complete the work. Now, Columbiana County Engineer Bert Dawson hopes to move forward by applying for federal funding as an Appalachian county project.
"We’re in the Appalachia area. The new president won that area quite handily. So, we think that we may be in a better seat to push the thing. You know, if the applicants were counties located in the Appalachian region that might resonate better than just the State of Ohio.”
Dawson says that although funding for Appalachia was not in the president’s first proposed budget, the congressional delegations of the region, including both of Ohio’s senators, are trying to get it restored.
