ODOT director tours proposed Columbus-to-pittsburgh corridor
The Columbus to Pittsburgh Corridor Association recently hosted a bus tour of the corridor for Jack Marchbanks, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation.
“The purpose of this trip was to demonstrate to Director Marchbanks how vital completion of this corridor is to the economic growth of the region,” said Jeannette Wierzbicki, executive director of the Ohio Mid-eastern Governments Association and a member of the association.
The tour began in Dresden in Muskingum County and continued along the corridor to the MPLX natural gas facility in Harrison County. The tour also included stops at the office of Coshocton County Engineer Fred Wachtel and at the Tappan Lake Marina for lunch.
The corridor runs from the northeast side of Columbus through Licking, Muskingum and Coshocton counties. It follows U.S. Route 36 from Coshocton to
Dennison and then U.S. Route 250 to Cadiz. It then continues along U.S. Route 22 to Pittsburgh.
Only 30% of the corridor is left to be completed - 3.6 miles in Muskingum County, 7.6 miles in Coshocton County, 15.3 miles in Tuscarawas County and 20.6 miles in Harrison County.
“The completion of this corridor will allow us to continue to compete on a global scale for the retention and expansion of existing businesses and attraction of new ones,” said Nicholas Homrighausen, executive director of the Harrison
County Community Improvement Corp. and vice chair of the corridor association.
“Furthermore we have a once in a generation chance to build a more resilient economy in our region. You do not have to look far to other surrounding areas within the state of Ohio that have four lane highways completed and their economic prosperity because of that. The association presented information along the corridor from representatives of each county of the growth they are experiencing and the potential for future growth.”