PERRYSBURG (WTOL) - The diverging diamond interchange in Perrysburg recently received the America’s Transportation Awards competition for Operations Excellence in the Small Category in the mid-America region.
Sponsored by AASHTO, Socrata, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the 11th annual America’s Transportation Awards competition recognizes transportation projects in three categories: Quality of Life/Community Development, Best Use of Technology and Innovation, and Operations Excellence. Project categories are also broken down by size: small (projects costing less than $25 million), medium (projects that cost between $25 million and $200 million), and large (projects costing more than $200 million).
The diverging diamond interchange was Ohio’s only award winner this year in the America’s Transportation Awards competition.
"It's an honor to have the only Ohio award-winning project in our ODOT District," said ODOT Deputy Director Patrick McColley.
When planning to improve traffic flow and efficiency while increasing safety for State Route 25 over I-475, the diverging diamond design met those needs, officials said. It could also be built on the current bridge, which was cited as a way to drastically reduce costs to the project.
"I travel through the DDI every day," said ODOT Capital Programs Administrator Michael Gramza. "The ingenuity of the design has led to the greatest traffic flow improvement of any project I have been involved with. The ability to utilize the existing structure to keep the cost of the project economical is truly noteworthy."
However, being the first DDI in northwest Ohio, some drivers were skeptical of the design and driving on the left side of the road.
"People have commented that once they get used to it, they really appreciate how much easier it is to get onto the interstate," said Perrysburg Mayor Tom Mackin. "I have received lots of very positive comments about how much better traffic flows in the diverging diamond."
The diverging diamond interchange also won an American Council of Engineering Companies of Ohio engineering excellence award.
The Ohio Department of Transportation partnered with Perrysburg, DGL Consulting Engineers, and E.S. Wagner Company to improve this interchange.
