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Concrete Industry Asks Senate to Require Neutral Review of ODOT Pavement‑Selection Process
Summary
Ohio Concrete asked the Senate Transportation Committee to preserve House Bill 54 language that would require the Ohio Department of Transportation to commission a neutral third‑party review of its pavement‑selection process and to form an advisory council to approve the study scope.
Tom Rositz, president and executive director of Ohio Concrete, urged the committee to preserve House Bill 54 language requiring a neutral third‑party analysis of the Ohio Department of Transportation's pavement‑selection process and creation of an advisory council to set the scope and select the reviewer.
"The language would simply require ODOT to contract with the neutral third party to analyze the agency's pavement selection process, including but not limited to life cycle cost analysis, user delay, constructability, and environmental factors," Rositz told the committee.
Why it matters: Rositz said Ohio's pavement market has become overwhelmingly asphalt‑dominant and that renewed impartial analysis would restore competition, lower material costs and allow agencies to get more roadway work for a fixed budget. He cited a 2020 Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis and a 2019 American Concrete Paving Association report as supporting evidence that competition can lower costs and that ODOT's current design methodology is outdated.
Details from testimony
- Rositz asked the committee to maintain language that mirrors a provision the 125th General Assembly adopted in 2003, which then supported a two‑pavement competitive market for about a decade.
- Proposed mechanics: ODOT would contract with a neutral third party (individual, academic or professional association) to analyze life‑cycle cost analysis inputs, user delay, constructability and environmental factors; an advisory council chaired by the ODOT director would approve the analysis scope. Industry groups such as the Flexible Pavement Association of Ohio and Ohio Concrete would each have one seat on the council, along with representatives from the Ohio Society of CPAs, the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers, and business appointees named by legislative leaders.
- Rositz said ODOT's current pavement design methodology is about 32 years old; he told senators other states use newer software and design inputs, and that differences in methodology can effectively bias results toward one pavement type.
Cost and timeline
Rositz estimated the neutral analysis would be a one‑time task with an approximate cost of $70,000 to $100,000; he said that increased market competition could offset that cost through lower bid prices.
Questions from senators
Committee members asked whether ODOT's in‑house engineers could be trusted to select pavement types and why ODOT had not adopted newer design methodologies. Rositz responded that ODOT's staff have an oath to taxpayers but that the existing design methodology and input values are not "apples to apples" across pavement types. He said other states that allow both materials to bid show greater competition and lower costs.
What the testimony did not include
The transcript records no formal committee action or vote on the proposed language. ODOT representatives did not testify in this hearing segment to respond to Rositz's claims about methodology or competition.
Ending
Rositz asked the committee to preserve the amended language in House Bill 54 to commission the neutral review; senators requested the witness provide documentation and follow‑up materials that the committee can distribute to members.
