COLUMBUS — The Ohio Department of Transportation opened a second lane on Wednesday, Oct. 14, on the Interstate 71 southbound flyover ramp in downtown Columbus, ending a months-long single-lane squeeze for drivers crossing the downtown interchange.
Drivers reaching the flyover from Interstate 70 west or from Mound Street no longer have to merge into one lane to stay on I-71 south. ODOT’s District 6 announced the opening in an Oct. 14 social media video, marking the latest milestone in the department’s long-running rebuild of the downtown freeway system.
The towering flyover ramp had been restricted to a single lane since it first opened in December. Crews kept the second lane closed while they finished work on the ramp itself and on nearby interstate projects that tie into the same stretch of highway.
Before the flyover existed, the trip through downtown was considerably trickier. Drivers merging onto I-70 west from the Third Street ramp, which has since closed, had to cross three lanes of traffic in less than a mile to remain on I-71 south — a weave that the new ramp was built to eliminate.
The flyover is part of Phase 4R/6R of ODOT’s Downtown Ramp Up project, the department’s multi-year effort to rebuild the I-70/I-71 corridor through the center of the city. Construction on the current $280 million phase began in 2022.
State transportation officials expect to finish the phase by the end of the fall, which would wrap up this stage of a project that has reshaped downtown ramps, bridges and merges over several construction seasons.
The downtown corridor carries some of the heaviest traffic in central Ohio, and the I-70/I-71 overlap has been under near-constant construction as ODOT separates the two interstates’ traffic and rebuilds aging ramps and bridges. Each piece that opens, including this second flyover lane, is meant to cut down on the sharp merges and last-minute lane changes that have long made the drive through downtown Columbus stressful at rush hour.
For commuters, the immediate change is capacity: two lanes instead of one on a ramp that funnels traffic from two different approaches into southbound I-71. Drivers should still expect an active work zone in the corridor while the remaining pieces of the phase are completed, and ODOT is urging motorists to stay alert as traffic patterns adjust to the newly opened lane.
