More than 200 central Ohioans flocked to the Delaware County Fairgrounds Aug. 6 for an open house meeting on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s U.S. 23/Interstate 71 connector route study.
It was the fifth open house meeting on the connector ODOT held the week of Aug. 3, just a few days after the agency unveiled its preferred alignment for the route. Meeting attendees were able to inspect ODOT maps and charts of the route, leave public comments and speak to ODOT employees.
The public comments will be added to the final feasibility study ODOT has to provide the Ohio General Assembly with by Oct. 1, ODOT spokesperson Matt Bruning said. Then it will be up to the legislature and state officials to decide if the project moves forward. Ohio’s operating budget signed into law in 2025 required ODOT to study the feasibility of connecting U.S. 23 and I-71 somewhere north of Delaware.
“ODOT’s role is doing our homework assignment, not really taking a side as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing because we realize that for some people it’s a good thing and for some people it’s a bad thing,” Bruning said.
Outside the meeting, a group of people from the Concerned Citizens of Morrow County Facebook group gathered signatures for a petition opposing the connector route. Buck Vaile, a member of the group, said they had already gathered more than 2,000 signatures.
“There’s nothing that’s positive for us (with the connector). We gain nothing. All we do is we lose farmland that has been in families for literally five, six generations,” Vaile said.
ODOT’s preferred route connects with U.S. 23 north of Waldo and weaves its way through land in Marion County and Morrow County before connecting with U.S. 42 north of the village of Ashley. The route then heads sharply southward, skirting the border of Delaware County before ending at Interstate 71 just south of State Route 521.
Morrow County residents Robert and Amanda Lynch attended the Aug. 6 meeting with two of their children in tow. It was the third meeting they’ve attended this week because ODOT’s preferred route would run right next to their home. The couple built their house themselves, living in a tent and a camper while they worked. If the highway gets built, they said they would have to uproot both their home and Robert’s business.
“It would ruin the property. I mean, you wouldn’t be able to live there,” Robert Lynch said.
Delaware County resident Chris Kroon Van Diest said he attended the meeting to find out what the final route will look like. One of ODOT’s earlier, more southerly routes would have put his and his wife Peggy’s home of 37 years right in the path of the connector. He wants the uncertainty of whether the route will be built, and where it will be built, to end.
“They need to make a decision and stick with it one way or the other, okay? It holds a lot of people hostage, really,” he said.
Support for the connector route is largely divided by region, with many rural central Ohioans against the connector because it would require loss of farmland, while northwestern Ohioans who say they need a faster way to get to Columbus are for it, as are many residents in southern Delaware County seeking relief on traffic-congested U.S. 23.
If ODOT’s preferred connector route is built, it would cost the state $650 million to $740 million, and it could save drivers six to 22 minutes of travel time. If a toll is added to the highway, it would cover the operation and maintenance costs of the route, along with 6% of the construction costs, according to information ODOT presented at the meeting.
Ohioans who didn’t make the in-person meetings can also submit comments until Sept. 1 on ODOT’s public input website, by emailing 23-71study@dot.ohio.gov, or by sending mail marked with “ATTN: US 23/I-71 Connector Feasibility Study” to ODOT’s District 6 offices at 400 East William St. in Delaware.
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: Central Ohioans speak out on U.S. 23/I-71 connector route at ODOT open house
Reporting by Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
