Voters approved an increase to sales taxes to fund improvements to the Central Ohio Transit Authority to add bus rapid transit and improve sidewalks and bike trails around Central Ohio.
Unofficial results show 57% of reported precincts in Franklin County voted to pass the levy, called Issue 47. The levy won with 344,084 “yes” votes with 207,023 people voting “no” on the levy.
It increases the COTA sales tax share from 0.5% to 1%.
The levy would fund a plan called LinkUs by COTA and its supporters. The LinkUs plan would create five bus rapid transit routes through the city with dedicated bus lanes, elevated boarding platforms and other amenities that COTA says will streamline and speed up transit.
COTA President and CEO Monica Tellez-Fowler told WOSU on Election Night her team is excited about the future of COTA and public transit after this levy passed.
"We just really want to thank central Ohio for helping us take this historic step forward into introducing a transit system that our region needs so that people can reach, you know, jobs, health care, housing and entertainment," Tellez-Fowler said.
The LinkUs plan would also fund about 150 miles of sidewalk and bike trail projects around the COTA service area.
If passed, the levy would give Franklin County the highest sales tax rate in Ohio, at 8%, which would be equal to Cuyahoga County's sales tax.
Most of Ohio's 88 counties have a sales tax rate somewhere between 7% and 8%.
The first two BRT routes would cost $339 million to build a corridor on West Broad Street and $329 million to build another on East Main Street. Both would stretch from downtown to the edges of Franklin County.
A third “northwest corridor” is planned to begin later that would run from downtown Columbus, through Ohio State University’s campus, and towards Dublin. Two more unspecified routes are planned in the future.
COTA spokesman Jeff Pullin told WOSU BRT was studied and results showed it would make the routes about 25% faster.
Pullin said the expectation is to have three total routes online by 2030.
More than 80 sidewalk and bike trail projects are being tagged for money with this sales tax increase from 0.5% to 1%. This would include building the Linden Green Line park and bike path project in Columbus and extending the Big Walnut Creek Trail in Gahanna.
LinkUs plans to add a total of 500 miles of sidewalks, trails and bikeways by 2050. A full interactive map of the projects earmarked for LinkUs to fund in its first five years can be found on MORPC's website.
This is a developing story.
