The first infrastructure project funded by central Ohio’s LinkUS sales has broken ground in Grove City.
Officials from the Central Ohio Transit Authority, the City of Grove City and other regional partners broke ground June 15 on the Hoover Road Pedestrian Bridge project, which will add a wider shared use path to the Hoover Road bridge over Interstate 71. Officials from COTA and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) presented a $2.2 million check for the project at the groundbreaking, according to a LinkUS press release.
William Murdock, the executive director of MORPC, said in a statement that the groundbreaking is a milestone for central Ohio’s communities.
“With LinkUS, voters asked our community to grow better as we get bigger – and transportation investment is at the core of that vision. That means real improvements to how we all get around: expanded transit and the sidewalks and trails that connect people to transit, to work, to school, and to the places that matter to them. This project is proof that the promise is being kept,” he said.
It’s the first physical construction project to break ground since the LinkUS sales tax took effect in April 2025. That’s because COTA needed time to build up funding and central Ohio’s municipalities needed time to design and plan their projects, COTA CEO Monica Téllez-Fowler previously told The Dispatch.
The Hoover Road project is one of 83 infrastructure projects the COTA Board of Trustees approved for $256 million of funding in March 2025. Seven other of these projects are expected to break ground in 2026.
LinkUS is COTA’s $8 billion plan to build new bus rapid transit corridors, improve COTA’s services and invest in over 500 miles of sidewalks, bikeways and trails by 2050. Central Ohio voters approved a 0.5% sales tax levy for LinkUS in November 2024, bringing COTA’s total sales tax up to 1%. The sales tax rate in Franklin County is 8%.
Bus rapid transit corridors feature train-station like bus stops, dedicated bus lanes, larger buses and more regular service. COTA’s first BRT corridor, the West Broad Street Corridor, is set to break ground in the fall, although it is potentially facing up to 16 months in delays.
During construction on the Hoover Road bridge, traffic will be maintained southbound on Hoover Road. Northbound traffic will detour east onto Holton Road, north onto Buckeye Parkway and then west on White Road. Two-way traffic will be restored in the fall as the school year begins. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, according to a LinkUS press release.
Transportation and neighborhoods reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: First project funded by LinkUS sales tax levy breaks ground in Grove City
Reporting by Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
