COLUMBUS — Drivers crossing downtown Columbus overnight this weekend will need a detour, as the Ohio Department of Transportation closes Interstate 70 between Interstate 71 and State Route 315 on three straight nights.
The closure runs from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following morning on Friday, Oct. 16, Saturday, Oct. 17 and Sunday, Oct. 18. ODOT corrected its first announcement to make clear the highway will close overnight only, not for the entire weekend.
ODOT’s recommended detour stays on state routes. Westbound drivers are directed from I-70 to I-71 northbound, then to Interstate 670 westbound and back to I-70 westbound, routing traffic around the closed downtown stretch.
Several related ramps and routes will close as well. State Route 315 southbound at Interstate 70 closes from 9 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday, giving that piece of the work an earlier start than the main I-70 closure.
Three downtown ramps face a longer window. The Mound Street ramp to I-70 westbound, the Mound Street ramp to I-71 southbound and the I-70 westbound ramp to Rich Street and Town Street all close starting at 7 p.m. Friday and remain closed through 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19.
The work is part of ODOT’s Downtown Ramp Up project, a $1.4 billion effort to rebuild and improve the highway system around downtown Columbus. The overnight timing is meant to limit the disruption to the hours when traffic is lightest.
Daytime travel is not part of the I-70 closure plan. The highway is scheduled to reopen at 5 a.m. each morning, before the heaviest downtown traffic begins, and ODOT’s clarification that the closure is overnight only corrects the impression left by its original weekend-closure announcement. Even so, overnight workers, airport travelers and freight drivers who normally cross downtown after 10 p.m. are the groups most likely to feel the detour.
The timing still lands on a busy Columbus weekend, with a Twenty One Pilots concert at Ohio Stadium on Saturday night and the Columbus Marathon on Sunday, plus a Friday night arena concert downtown. Drivers heading downtown late at night, and anyone leaving evening events after 10 p.m., should plan the detour in advance, allow extra time, and watch for the posted ramp closures around Mound, Rich and Town streets.
