TOLEDO, Ohio — I-75 drivers will soon get some relief and see lanes start to open back up. Representatives with the Ohio Department of Transportation said crews are in the homestretch of finishing sections of I-75.
The construction along I-75 is a part of two separate projects, one that is south of the DiSalle Bridge and another that runs north along the downtown stretch.
The northern section of I-75 will be done before the section toward Wood county. Officials with ODOT said the orange barrels north of South Avenue will start to go away at the end of this month. Once everything is done, there will be three lanes of traffic in both directions, on top of a “drop lane” near exit and entrance ramps. That is basically a lane that allows drivers to merge safely.
When all is said and done, ODOT officials say not only will downtown Toledo be more accessible but also safer.
"So even the ability to increase these lanes is going to help such a great ability to have less congestion and things like that! And also these merge points, that was a huge safety component of this project was making safer add drop lanes. So this is really going to be an increase in safety in an increase in capacity!" said Kelsei Hoagland with ODOT District 2.
While the northern section of the interchange project is done, the southern section still has about a year to go, as some lanes are still under construction. Despite supply issues starting to pop up, the project is still expected to be fully complete by fall of 2023.
"We are starting to see a couple of delays come in to play, with the concrete shortages that we’re seeing nationwide. So those are having a slight effect on some of our subgrade materials but overall they’re still projecting to stay on track for 2023," said Hoagland.
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