Medina Today

An annual highway report is showing Ohio has seen a decrease in the “overall condition in effectiveness” and has Republican gubernatorial challenger Jim Renacci pointing at Gov. Mike DeWine.

Renacci, who will face DeWine in the Republican primary in May, said the highway report is further evidence his opponent has strayed from conservative values.

“This report is a reminder that Mike DeWine is managing Ohio's roads like a progressive Democrat, spending more and more taxpayer money on bloated administrative costs with no corresponding increase in performance,” Renacci told Buckeye Reporter. “As governor I will look over every government agency from top to bottom and root out waste to ensure every taxpayer dollar is spent as efficiently as possible.”

The state rankings in the report from the Reason Foundation are based on 13 categories of cost-effectiveness on state-controlled highways. These categories include the conditions of pavement and bridges, spending per mile and traffic fatalities.

Ohio previously ranked 13th in the Reason Foundation's 25th annual Highway Report, which was released in November 2020. Previously the state ranked 18th overall in the 2019 report, and 26th in the 2018 report.

Ohio has fallen from 13th in the nation in 2020 to 24th this year, largely due to a huge increase in administrative spending on the highway system. Ohio ranks 42nd in terms of spending-per-mile ($12,342 per lane-mile), making it one of the heaviest spenders in the country.

Renacci has similarly called out DeWine for overseeing what he called massive administrative bloat in JobsOhio with no corresponding increase in job creation in an opinion column published in the Columbus Dispatch earlier in December.

Renacci, 63, is an accountant and entrepreneur who once owned the Columbus Destroyers Arena Football Team. He won election to U.S. Congress in 2010 as part of the Tea Party movement, and later endorsed Donald Trump over then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the 2016 primary for president.

Renacci announced his bid for governor in June. 

DeWine, 74, was Kasich's choice to replace him as Ohio governor in 2019. He is one of the longest-serving public officials in state history, having been in elected office for 41 years. That includes stints in the Ohio Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, and as Ohio attorney general and Ohio lieutenant governor.