Cost Of Portsmouth Bypass To Exceed State Estimates

Financial documents show Ohio's largest single road construction project and first public-private partnership will cost taxpayers nearly three times its announced price tag of 429 million dollars. The state will pay 1.2 billion dollars over the life of a 35-year agreement to build and maintain the Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway, a 16-mile link between U.S. 23 and U.S. 52 that will bypass Portsmouth. Construction is to begin this summer and finish in 2019. The initial figure given by state officials left out interest, highway maintenance, financial-transaction costs and other charges developers incur. The Ohio Department of Transportation says it routinely refers only to construction costs when talking money spent on a project.