Concrete industry urges restoration of original pavement-selection language in House Bill 54

Tom Rosidis, president and executive director of Ohio Concrete, told the Ohio Senate Transportation Committee that he wants the committee to restore language the Ohio House included in substitute House Bill 54 that governs how the Ohio Department of Transportation compares pavement materials.

Rosidis said the amendment adopted since the House version "may require the advisory council to review issues that are not relevant to both pavement material types." He asked senators to "reinstate the original language" and to "review its current procedures and implement those improvements to ensure that the pavement selection comparisons are consistent and comparable."

Rosidis also emphasized that the restored language would not remove engineering considerations from road construction, nor would it "require the use of asphalt or concrete pavement." He argued that a consistent comparison process is needed because, in his view, concrete "has long been known as a durable and minimal maintenance paving product" and that past ODOT design practice has biased evaluations against concrete.

Committee members did not take action during the hearing. Rosidis concluded by offering to answer questions and said he advocated returning to the House approach used in a 2003 process as the best model for consistent pavement comparisons.

The committee proceeded to other witnesses after the testimony; no formal vote or amendment on the bill's pavement-selection language is recorded in the hearing transcript.