Columbus will receive $25 million from the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant program to support the city's Crossroads Project. The $1.3 billion Crossroads undertaking seeks to replace aging freeways and bridges, alleviate traffic congestion, reduce safety risks and reconnect neighborhoods at the I-70/I-71 intersection and overlap downtown.
The city, ODOT, and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission have already invested nearly $648 million in the project.
This new federal grant assists Phase 4 of the Crossroads project, which will reconnect downtown with Southside neighborhoods by expanding and improving three overpass bridges along High, Third and Fourth Streets. Bridge caps with on-street parking, public art, green space, and commercial development will complement the High Street and Third Street bridges.
Officials say the I-70/I-71 overlap averages more than 145,000 vehicles each day, exceeding the intended daily capacity by 50,000. In 2015, the location ranked among the top 10 freeway crash spots in the state of Ohio.