WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded a $25 million grant to the City of Columbus, in partnership with the Mid-Ohio Regional planning Commission (MORPC) for Phase 4 of the Columbus Crossroads project.
“Rebuilding American infrastructure will put Ohioans to work on projects like this one,” said Brown. “We can create jobs building the roads, transit, and broadband systems that will support our 21st century economy. I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Portman and the Biden-Harris administration to put Ohioans to work creating an infrastructure system that will be the envy of the world once again.”
“This $25 million INFRA grant is great news for central Ohio. This grant will grow economic development and job creation and allow for better use of I-70 and I-71 freeways, by replacing aging infrastructure to reduce congestion and improve safety,” said Portman. “It’s projects like the Columbus Crossroads that demonstrates the economic benefit of long-term investments like infrastructure. This sort of return of investment we see in infrastructure across Ohio and this nation is exactly why I worked with my bipartisan colleagues to develop the framework President Biden agreed to yesterday. This framework will help ensure these sorts of federal funds can continue to support regionally significant projects like the Columbus Crossroads.”
“If you have been to Columbus you have driven through the 70/71 split. This project has been delayed for over a decade and is indicative of many of the transportation challenges we face as nation. This freeway mainline in the overlap carries 130,000 vehicles per day, exceeding its design capacity by 50,000 vehicles. As a result, this area contains three of Ohio’s top ten freeway crash locations. This INFRA grant investment will benefit not just Central Ohio residents but the entire state and its completion will enhance mobility, support economic growth, improve safety, and reconnect our neighborhoods,” said William Murdock, Executive Director, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC).
Columbus Crossroads is a $1.3 billion project that transforms crossroads of I-70 and I-71, an essential junction which carries commuter and freight traffic across the nation. Phase 4 of the project removes a major bottleneck for interstate traffic on these two key commercial routes, improving one of the National Primary Highway Freight System’s key corridors. Specifically, the grant money will be used to reconstruct just over approximately 1 mile of eastbound and westbound I-70 and northbound I-71 through the I-70/I-71/SR 315 West Interchange; add an additional through lane for both eastbound and westbound traffic in the I-70/71 overlap; replace three functionally obsolete bridges over I-70/I-71 at: High Street, Third Street and Fourth Street; reconnect Downtown Columbus and the neighborhoods immediately south through urban avenue improvements, bridge enhancements, and bridge caps on the High Street and Third Street bridges.
Note: In March, Senators Brown and Portman sent a letter to DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asking DOT to consider the grant application submitted by the Ohio Department of Transportation, in partnership with the City of Columbus and MORPC.
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