COLUMBUS — A stretch of interstate linking downtown Columbus with the city’s airport is being named to honor the man who sat in the mayor’s office when the project was completed.
Lawmakers approved a measure designating a portion of Interstate 670 as the “Dana G. ‘Buck’ Rinehart Memorial Highway,” named in honor of a man once credited (truthfully or not) with saying that the highway was necessary because Columbus had “a two-lane road to the airport but a four-lane highway to the zoo.”
“It is fitting that this memorial highway legislation has completed its legislative journey nearly one year since Mayor Rinehart passed away,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jim Hughes (R-Columbus) today
The bill heads to Gov. John Kasich for his signature.
During his administration, I-670 from downtown to Port Columbus was completed while the city invested more than $600 million in government infrastructure, creating 117,000 jobs.
Rinehart served two terms as mayor during a time when Columbus experience strong growth and emerged as a leading Midwestern city.
On Rinehart’s watch, Columbus was recognized as one of the best cities for business in the U.S. and became one of the ten fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country.