COLUMBUS – The federal Department of Transportation says $1 million in emergency relief funds will go toward repairing a damaged West Side interstate bridge that was charred after a tanker truck carrying ethanol caught fire last week.
See maps of ramp closings, lane shifts and detours.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the emergency funds in a statement Wednesday. The money will be available immediately and will replace the deck of the bridge where I-70 crosses over I-270.
Officials say repairs are expected to be completed within 30 days.
The tanker overturned around 6:00 a.m. July 1 near a ramp between the interstates, burning beneath an I-70 bridge that carries traffic toward downtown.
After the crash changed West Side commute routes, the Ohio Department of Transportation looked to that state up north to find a solution.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
Here, engineers are calling it the “Buckeye Left” or the “Buckeye U-Turn,” (below) a version of what our northern neighbors call the “Michigan Left.” It will allow motorists hoping to take I-270 north to I-70 west to get off at the Roberts Road exit, stay in the far left lane on Roberts and make a U-turn back to I-270 south where they’ll be able to get on I-70 west.
ODOT bagged the exit’s left turn signal and erected a line of plastic pylons separating the far left lane from the others to allow traffic to move continuously across the Roberts Road overpass from northbound I-270 to southbound I-270. This change prevents westbound Roberts Road travelers from turning left onto I-270 south and forces them to continue on to Hilliard Rome Road, but department officials said they had to prioritize the heavier flow of traffic.
This detour is part of the department’s effort to curb delays while the interchange is repaired, ODOT deputy director Ferzan Ahmed said. And, he said, it seems to be working.
“As can be expected, there are some delays — after all, this is a construction zone — but, overall, we are moving smoothly and safely,” he said.
The crash occurred when the tanker truck containing 8,000 gallons of ethanol rolled over and caught fire on I-270, burning 60 feet of an eastbound I-70 bridge above. Since then, ODOT has routed eastbound traffic across the median to share the westbound bridge.