The Ohio Department of Transportation has set up an online portal for people to leave location-specific comments about the U.S. 23 corridor north of Columbus through Delaware County.
“This is an opportunity to share thoughts on where you see congestion or safety concerns and where you’d like to see improvements on U.S. 23,” the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments said in an announcement of the ODOT page related to its Route 23 Connect study.
“This feedback will be critical in evaluating potential improvements and will be considered by the project team as it continues technical analysis of the corridor,” the metropolitan council said.
The portal is available at https://www.publicinput.com/23connect and will be open through Jan. 15.
ODOT’s page repeated, however, that a new freeway to bypass U.S. 23 through Delaware and Worthington was ruled out in “Phase A” of the Route 23 Connect study, while the current “Phase B” is intended to identify small-scale projects along the existing roadway.
“The cost, complexity, and environmental impact of the concepts presented in Phase A were too high to pursue further, so the study is shifting its focus toward identifying smaller-scale improvements,” ODOT said.
The targeted section of U.S. 23 is between Waldo, Ohio and the I-270 beltway around Columbus.
“This evaluation will inform an action plan that pinpoints specific new project concepts that can be advanced to the project development phase,” ODOT said. “These new project concepts will range in size and scope, aiming to provide safer and more efficient travel, including increased travel time reliability for through traffic. Concepts studied will be implementable within a timeframe that will provide drivers with benefits sooner rather than later.”
U.S. 23 in Delaware County and northern Franklin County has long been a thorn for Toledoans driving to Columbus because of the corridor’s heavy commercial development and growing local traffic. The section between Waldo and I-270 has 38 traffic lights.
Area officials believe the resulting congestion could impair northwest Ohio’s ability to attract new business related to the massive Intel semiconductor plant now under construction northeast of Columbus in New Albany, Ohio. Toledo is the only major Ohio city without a direct freeway connection to Ohio’s capital city.
A $1 million feasibility study, half-funded by ODOT and one-quarter each by TMACOG and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, looked at five freeway options to link U.S. 23 with either I-71 to the east or U.S. 33 to the west, as well as converting existing U.S. 23 to a freeway.
But a study report ODOT issued in early May said state officials had ruled out further study of any of the six options because none of them offered a time savings large enough to justify costs for land acquisition and construction. None would reduce travel time by more than 13 minutes while all cost more than $1 billion, the report said.
ODOT officials said at the time they instead would investigate the potential for smaller U.S. 23 projects that would address specific problem areas rather than tackling the entire corridor.
Toledo City Council passed several weeks later a resolution calling on the DeWine administration to “overrule” ODOT’s findings, and TMACOG’s current statement said its leaders will continue to rally support for a bypass.
“With hopefully several more years of federal funding available through President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, now is the time to prioritize a free-flowing connection between northwest Ohio and Columbus,” said Tim Brown, the metropolitan council’s president. “Beginning to plan for this project now will help Ohio potentially access these federal dollars, and every indication is that Governor DeWine’s administration will begin working with us on an action plan.”
First Published January 7, 2023, 8:08 p.m.
