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Bob Milbourne, President & CEO, The Columbus Partnership
Gordon Proctor, Director, ODOT
If you've ever attempted to navigate the junction of I-70/71 you would no doubt agree with ODOT that the downtown split is the most congested, high-crash freeway in Ohio. It was designed half a century ago and built in the ?60s to carry what must have seemed like a very generous 125,000 vehicles per day. Today, 175,000 vehicles travel this stretch resulting in two crashes daily!
For the past year, ODOT has been studying four alternatives that would rebuild the freeway, ramps and nearby city streets. In July, the city asked ODOT to analyze and consider a more costly fifth alternative - the "Grand Boulevard."
The alternatives under study range in cost from $580 million to $830 million. ODOT has $425 million committed to the project through 2011 and will build the highway in phases focusing on the most congested, high-crash areas first.
All of the alternatives untangle the I-70/71 overlap by rebuilding the interchanges at State Route 315 and I-71 and changing the location of travel lanes for each. The five alternatives differ in how they tie the freeway system into the downtown street network.
ODOT's Director Gordon Proctor will discuss the project from the state's perspective and Bob Milbourne of the Columbus Partnership will provide the local viewpoint and priorities. ODOT expects to have the final plan for the corridor by this summer.
Gordon Proctor, Director, ODOT
If you've ever attempted to navigate the junction of I-70/71 you would no doubt agree with ODOT that the downtown split is the most congested, high-crash freeway in Ohio. It was designed half a century ago and built in the ?60s to carry what must have seemed like a very generous 125,000 vehicles per day. Today, 175,000 vehicles travel this stretch resulting in two crashes daily!
For the past year, ODOT has been studying four alternatives that would rebuild the freeway, ramps and nearby city streets. In July, the city asked ODOT to analyze and consider a more costly fifth alternative - the "Grand Boulevard."
The alternatives under study range in cost from $580 million to $830 million. ODOT has $425 million committed to the project through 2011 and will build the highway in phases focusing on the most congested, high-crash areas first.
All of the alternatives untangle the I-70/71 overlap by rebuilding the interchanges at State Route 315 and I-71 and changing the location of travel lanes for each. The five alternatives differ in how they tie the freeway system into the downtown street network.
ODOT's Director Gordon Proctor will discuss the project from the state's perspective and Bob Milbourne of the Columbus Partnership will provide the local viewpoint and priorities. ODOT expects to have the final plan for the corridor by this summer.
February 1, 2006