FOR DECADES, northwest Ohio has been shortchanged when it comes to infrastructure investment. While Columbus has poured billions into highways and interstates in other parts of the state, our region has been left behind, forced to make do with back roads and tolls that stifle economic growth. It is long past time for I-73 to become a reality.

When Ohio Turnpike bonds expired in the 1990s, taxpayers were promised the end of toll collection. Instead, the tolls remain — and so does the disadvantage they impose on northwest Ohio.

Distribution and logistics companies know the math: why build along a toll road when you can move products on toll-free I-70, stretching east to west through central Ohio? That’s why Beavercreek, not Toledo, became a booming distribution hub.

The irony cuts deep: I

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