COLUMBUS, Ohio – A state board that reviews transportation projects in Ohio has given final approval to dozens of major projects that amount to a nearly $3 billion investment in infrastructure, including the rebuilding of a major freeway interchange in Columbus.
The Thursday vote by the Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) speeds up the construction timeline of several big-ticket projects including a downtown interchange, a major bridge in Cleveland and work on Interstate 75 in southwest Ohio.
The rebuilding of the I-71/ I-70 split in downtown Columbus and the other projects are being paid for with tolls from the Ohio Turnpike.
The Ohio Department of Transportation says many of the projects, which previously had been delayed by 10 years or more, may now start within the next two months.
For example, the revised calendar moves the previously scheduled 2019 demolition of a bridge over I-90 on Cleveland’s Innerbelt to this fall.
Gov. John Kasich administration has estimated the projects will create about 60,000 jobs.