BEREA, Ohio (March 27, 2023) – This year, the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission has a budget of about $226 million for capital improvement projects across the 241-mile toll road that traverses through 13 counties in northern Ohio.
The major roadway construction projects on the Ohio Turnpike in 2023 include pavement replacement and resurfacing, bridge renovations, and modernizing the toll collection system.
“The start of the construction season is an opportunity to remind motorists that everyone plays a role in work zone safety,” said Chris Matta, the commission’s chief engineer.
“With reduced lane widths and shifts, and narrow or no shoulders, we are urging motorists to drive safely in-and-around work zones by maintaining the posted speed limit, establishing a safe following distance, paying attention to the signs, avoiding distractions, and being prepared to slow down or stop.”
Speeding is a primary cause of crashes in work zones, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The OSHP will be conducting speed enforcement, including aerial enforcement by plane, in work zones across the Ohio Turnpike during the construction season, which typically runs from April to December 2023.
“Dangerous driving behaviors put our maintenance crews and construction workers at severe risk in work zones,” Matta added.
“During peak times, up to 1,300 men and women can be working in various locations across the Ohio Turnpike. Together, our number one priority is to get them home safely every day.”
In Ohio statewide since 2018, there has been 25,576 work zone-related collisions that resulted in 92 crashes with 101 fatalities, 501 severe injury crashes, 3,042 minor injury crashes, and 19,140 property damage-only crashes, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
On average from 2018-2022, there’s been 5,044 work zone-related crashes per year on Ohio’s roadways.
Williams County Projects
Beaver Excavating (Canton, Ohio) will continue its work on the Ohio Turnpike’s base pavement replacement project, which stretches from the Indiana/Ohio border to the existing Westgate Toll Plaza at milepost 2.7 in Williams County.
First, the pavement will be replaced on the westbound side and then the project will transition to complete the eastbound side.
During the westbound replacement, the eastbound traffic will be reduced to one lane coming into Ohio and westbound traffic will be reduced to one lane leaving Ohio.
During the eastbound replacement, eastbound traffic will again be reduced to one lane and westbound traffic will also be reduced to one lane. The work will begin this spring and end in November 2023.
Action Contractors (Bedford, Ohio) is expected to complete the new mainline Westgate Toll Plaza at milepost 4 in May 2023. Traffic interruptions are not expected.
A two-year resurfacing project will begin in May 2023 to improve the pavement conditions from milepost 14.8 to milepost 27.5.
The contractor, yet to be selected, will perform full depth pavement repairs on both sides of the Ohio Turnpike.
Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction during the nighttime hours.
In 2024, the contractor will perform full resurfacing, which will again reduce traffic to one lane in each direction during the nighttime hours.
Two lanes of traffic will be open in each direction during times of heavier travel (daytime hours), and no more than four miles of roadway will be under construction at a time during the two-year period.
The work will take place from May through November for both the 2023 and 2024 construction seasons.
Fulton County Projects
In 2023, Kokosing Construction Company (Westerville, Ohio) will complete work on two bridges, which include the mainline bridges over State Route 109 and over the DT & I Railroad in Fulton County.
Two lanes of traffic will be maintained during most of the construction season on the Ohio Turnpike mainline and a temporary traffic signal on S.R. 109 will maintain both northbound and southbound traffic.
Traffic is expected to return to normal in November 2023 when the work is completed.