TOLEDO, Ohio — Community members had the chance to meet with the Ohio Department of Transportation Wednesday during an open house to discuss the I-475 expansion project.
ODOT said it has been listening to the public's concerns about the project and is prepared to welcome Toledo residents to the consulting table.
Peggy Daly-Masternak, the leader of the I-475 Neighborhoods Coalition, said if members of the coalition get the opportunity to vote, they'll say no to the interstate widening project.
"It's unnecessary and it's actually more harmful with their plan as it stands right now definitely more costly," she said.
Kelsie Hoagland, the public information officer for ODOT District 2, said while plans have not been solidified, there will be money put toward the interstate.
"This roadway is due for reconstruction. Whether we widen or not, the roadway is going to be reconstructed so the orange barrels are coming," she said. "But this is a way to improve safety and take those measures."
Hoagland said when you drive on I-475 between Douglas Road and US-23, you are traveling on construction from the 1960s.
While the original rock and asphalt need to be replaced, the goal of the project is to get the most out of the investment by expanding the interstate to three lanes in each direction and improving the shoulders "so there is an adequate amount of space for a disabled motorist or someone who is, for example, running out of gas to go to safely move out of the way of traffic and protect themselves while on the side of the roadway," Hoagland said.
People who live near the interstate told WTOL 11 they felt left out of the conversation and thought it was odd the department outsourced consultants from other states.
ODOT is responding with information sessions for the public.
"This public meeting isn't scheduled or wasn't necessary to happen until spring of 2024, but we recognize and hear from a community that they feel that there's an absence of that communication so we want to improve those opportunities," Hoagland said.
Hoagland said she wants the community to know nothing is set in stone yet. While residents fear homes would be demolished or damaged, ODOT is working to keep people in their homes.
"What we were most concerned about and the biggest concern that we had heard from the public was those physical structures. 'We don't want to take our homes away, we don't want us to take away our neighborhoods, our sense of community,' and so that's really what we had been focused on, as ODOT and as our team moves forward with those designs, with eliminating the need to take the physical properties of homes themselves," Hoagland said.
While the homes will not be destroyed in the process of construction, there will still be yards and lawns that may be impacted. According to ODOT, it's a normal part of the process, but the actual locations of the changes have not yet been determined.