Interstate 70

Columbus, Ohio

Within Columbus, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) studied several options to deal with worsening congestion in Downtown in the early 2000s. Some of the options include converting portions of Interstate 70 into an at-grade boulevard, adding various collector distributor lanes parallel to the freeway, additional lanes, or doing nothing.

One option considered was to reroute Interstate 70 south of its current alignment between Exit 98/U.S. 42 and a point near Milepost 106. This plan would take I-70 onto a new alignment at Exit 98, connecting with Interstate 71 and SR 104 south of Downtown and continuing southeast of the former Cooper Stadium. East from there, I-70 would overtake SR 104, and a new connection would be constructed in the vicinity of U.S. 33 (Exit 105) linking the new route to the existing I-70. In exchange, the former route of Interstate 70 between Exits 98 and 105 A, including the notorious interchange with I-71, would be replaced with a 35 MPH boulevard.17

Another option presented by ODOT in November 2003,  proposed separating through traffic on I-70/71 from Downtown-bound traffic, possibly through the use of collector distributor lanes. According to the Columbus Dispatch,

the plan would eliminate highway lane changes by dedicating three lanes of traffic to I-70, two lanes to I-71 and creating collector distributor streets above the highway for motorists getting to and from two sets of Downtown ramps.

As the study progressed between 2002 and 2004, various alternatives were considered, eliminated, or adopted for further consideration. According to the ODOT I-70/I-71 South Innerbelt Corridor Study, construction of one of three possible alternatives (involving the location and layout of the collector distributor lanes) would have begun in 2008 and ended in late 2010. Design of the project began in 2005.6

Columbus Crossroads

Rebranded as the I-70/I-71 Downtown Ramp Up, this $1.4 billion mega project addresses congestion along the I-70/71 overlap through central Columbus. The six phase project kicked off with a revamp of the I-71/670 interchange between 2011-2013. Phase 2 entailed redesigning the eastern junction of I-70/71 to eliminate left exit ramps and ultimately split the two routes into separate roadways. Construction underway in Summer 2017 added an additional lane along both directions of I-70/71. A new ramp was also constructed from I-70 east at Parsons Avenue to replace the exit at 18th Street. It opened to traffic on December 20, 2019. Costing $82 million, Phase 2E work wrapped up in Summer 2022.