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Congressman Troy Balderson (OH-12) today joined Ben Garbarek of ABC 6 Columbus to discuss why the prospect of launching Hyperloop represents a great public-private partnership opportunity for Central Ohio to lead the nation in transportation innovation. Balderson recently penned an op-ed on the matter.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

GARBAREK: First off, Congressman, can you talk a little about Hyperloop? I know you’re on the House Transportation Committee. Really, how far away are we from having this potentially become reality here in Columbus?

BALDERSON: I think we still have a way to go, Ben, but I think we are definitely getting closer. There is a center out in the Las Vegas area where we have a piece of the track out there. Congressman Stivers and Congresswoman Beatty and I plan to go out there and take a ride on it. Several members of the folks in Columbus have already been out there and been exposed to it, but I think it’s realistic and we’re all very excited. What a great way to have a public-private partnership. Everything we’re doing right now with the infrastructure in Columbus, Ohio—we’ve been fortunate enough to have Smart City awarded to us, we have [the Transportation Research Center] that’s currently going out, and the Union County area in Marysville with the Honda plant. That’s the largest autonomous vehicle research center; they did a big ribbon cutting out there last week. So, I’m really excited about this and this is a very exciting project that we have moving forward.

GARBAREK: Do you anticipate more federal funding potentially being attributed to this Hyperloop project? Anything that Washington, D.C. can do to maybe grease the wheels and get this a little bit closer to reality?

BALDERSON: I think there will definitely be some help coming for that. Again, that’s the key part. We have private—that’s the Virgin Hyperloop—so there is private business in it, and that’s what makes it even more worthwhile. And to think that we can be from Columbus to Chicago in 40 minutes, who would’ve ever thought it?