A Better Connection

Fixing the Toledo-Columbus Highway Corridor

At least 38 traffic lights block the way between northern Delaware County and the Interstate 270 beltway around Columbus.

Seeking a better connection to Columbus

TMACOG has long advocated for an improved highway connection to the state capital, and last year partnered with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) to study options to improve travel between Waldo and Interstate 270.

Several news articles have covered ODOT’s recent decision to end the study, determining that none of the six proposed options could be "reasonably implemented," and that they would cost more than they would provide in benefit.

Leaders across our region disagree. A clogged U.S. 23 slows down our travel and our economy. Central Ohio is the fastest-growing area in the Midwest, quickly becoming a freight and logistics hub. MORPC projects the region will add more than 1 million households and 1 million jobs over the next 20 years, and ODOT expects truck traffic to approximately double by 2050.

Northwest Ohio is the only metropolitan area in the state without a free-flowing connection to the capital. Drivers from Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron, Canton, Dayton, and Cincinnati encounter zero stop lights en route to Columbus. The need for a better connection has been in TMACOG’s Transportation Legislative Agenda since 2008 and has been noted in long-range plans since at least 1996. TMACOG is also working with our partners to explore passenger rail connections linking Toledo and Columbus.

Improving bottlenecks in this area will make travel easier for residents and visitors and unlock a key freight connection not just between Columbus and Toledo, but for international trade. Ohio’s connection to the Southeast United States is growing due to expansion of the Interstate 73/74/75 corridor, which connects the eastern seaboard of the U.S. to the Midwest. Since the completion of the widening of the Panama Canal, more cargo ships make their way to the Carolinas. The freight being offloaded for transport into the Midwest is slowed because of the 38 traffic lights north of Columbus. Additionally, an EXPANDED BRIDGE TO CANADA, the new Gordie Howe International Bridge, is opening in 2025. The new bridge will provide many more lanes for processing freight vehicles to move goods more efficiently between our two countries. The only obstacle in the Midwest for this expanded international trade connection is the bottleneck north of Columbus in Delaware County.

Continuing to wait will only make a solution more necessary and more expensive in the future. U.S. 23 cannot continue to be the biggest remaining obstacle to a streamlined connection from Canada to much of the eastern United States, by way of Toledo. The federal government is addressing our nation’s infrastructure needs with a myriad of potential funding opportunities. Fixing Route 23 should be among the priority projects for Ohio.

TMACOG’s members and partners have championed this project as an important priority, and we need your help to ensure that our leaders do not allow this already poor connection to continue to deteriorate.