Ohio DOT touts record-breaking $3.2B construction season

Dive Brief:

• The Ohio DOT is underway with what it calls a record construction season that includes 955 projects — 38 of them considered “major” with a value above $10 million — across the state, according to an April 3 news release.
• The projects broadly fall into one of two camps — infrastructure and safety. The agency will improve 5,538 miles of pavement and 844 bridges, according to the release, with 171 projects focused on improving safety. 
• “This year we will see a very significant investment in our transportation infrastructure — one that will improve safety, reduce traffic fatalities and keep people and goods moving efficiently,” said Pamela Boratyn, Ohio DOT director, in the release.

Dive Insight:

Zooming in, the central Ohio region will see 94 new projects for an investment of $446 million, with eight of those projects over $10 million, according to the release.

It also called out the dangers of road work zones, as National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week takes place.

Notable new projects include:

• I-70/I-270/Brice Road Westbound Interchange Improvements as part of the next phase of the Far East Freeway project in Columbus.
• Pavement reconstruction on I-70 in Franklin County between the Madison County line and Hilliard Rome Road.
• Resurfacing of U.S. 42 in Union County between U.S. 33 and SR 745.
• U.S. 33 and Pickerington Road Interchange in Fairfield County.
• SR 208 Reconstruction in Muskingum County.

The agency will also continue to work on the $3.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge overhaul on the border of Ohio and Kentucky.

While the Ohio DOT is focused on infrastructure, the Buckeye State is a hot spot in other areas of the building industry. 

Columbus, the state’s capital, has embraced its role as a linchpin in tech construction. Other large projects include Intel’s delayed $28 billion Ohio One project, which will see two chip factories in the Columbus suburb of New Albany, Ohio, and a $2 billion Vantage data center in the same area.