COLUMBUS – More than $300 million worth of Central Ohio transportation projects that were in jeopardy of cancellation will be moving forward in the next three years, thanks to the new state transportation budget and its 10 ½-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine earlier this month.
The bill will generate approximately $828.5 million a year in additional funding for maintenance projects and upgrades on roads throughout Ohio, including the sprawling Columbus Crossroads project to rebuild the I-70/I-71 “split” through downtown Columbus to decrease congestion and reduce crashes.
Several phases of the project are already finished, but the new funding ensures that the entire project will eventually be complete.
“This interchange was built in the 1960s, and Columbus has long outgrown it…Now that we know the Columbus Crossroads project will proceed as planned, we can look forward to a safer interchange in the future,” DeWine said.
The current 2.5-year $80 million phase of the project, which will begin next week, will reconstruct and widen the eastbound side of I-70 from 4th Street to Miller Avenue and includes a new ramp from I-70 east to Parsons Avenue to provide improved access to Nationwide Children’s Hospital and East Side neighborhoods, Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jack Marchbanks said.
At the conclusion of the construction, there will be two continuous lane of travel for both interstates in both directions.
That will be followed over the next three years by three more phases of the project, widening I-71 on the east side of Downtown and rebuilding the East Side I-70/I-71 split, including bridge replacements and additions of ramps.
The next three phases of the Columbus Crossroads
Reconstruction and widening of I-71 from Broad Street to Long Street. ($43.8 million/2020):
Widens part of I-71 northbound and replaces the Broad Street Bridge to make it more pedestrian-friendly and to reconnect East Side neighborhoods separated when the interstate was built in 1962.
Reconstruction of I-70 East and I-71 North ($103.6 million/2021):
Construction of a new ramp from I-70 East to Fulton St. to new eastbound access to downtown. Replaces the Front Street Bridge. At the completion of this phase, there will be two continuous I-71 North lanes through downtown.
Reconstruction I-70 westbound and I-71 southbound ($107.2 million/2022)
Construction of new ramps from Mound St. to I-70 West and I-71 South
“These next three phases are essential pieces of the puzzle and will make a meaningful reduction in traffic crashes through this notoriously congested stretch of interstate,” Marchbanks said.
Those construction projects will be complete by the end of 2024 at a cost of $253 million, said DeWine and Marchbanks during a press conference Monday.
ODOT officials estimate the reconstruction will eliminate nearly 70 percent of the lane changes approaching the East Side split and will also relieve bottlenecks and back-ups while improving safety at three of the state’s top 10 accident locations: I-70 over State Route 315, just east of SR 315 and I-70/I-71 near Front Street.
The highway construction will coincide with improvements to a number of downtown and East Side streets, including Mound Street, Fulton Street and Elijah Pierce Avenue.
New bridges at Front Street, Grant Avenue and Broad Street will include pedestrian walkways and greenery.