Drivers will see barrels, more traffic
Ohioans hitting the road this Labor Day weekend should expect more company, according to AAA and the Ohio Department of Transportation.
There are two primary reasons: First, about 85 percent of travelers on Labor Day weekend — which runs from Thursday to Monday — typically drive to their destinations, many of them staying within 300 miles of home, said AAA Ohio spokeswoman Kimberly Schwind. That usually means a 10 percent increase in traffic on Ohio's roads compared with
non-holiday weekends, according to ODOT.
Some Ohioans are expected to drive to Bloomington, Indiana, where the Ohio State Buckeyes open their football season Thursday night at Indiana University. Other popular out-of-state road-trip destinations for the holiday weekend include Nashville and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago, according to AAA.
In Ohio, weekend vacationers driving to Cedar Point are expected to make Sandusky a popular destination; others are expected to head toward Cincinnati to visit Kings Island.
Labor Day ranks sixth for travel among the six major U.S. holidays (the others, in calendar order, are New Year’s, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas), according to ODOT and AAA. But roadwork adds to the increased potential for congestion, and ongoing road projects are expected to slow traffic along some of the state’s busiest highways.
“There are a large number of construction zones around our state this year,” ODOT spokesman Matt Bruning said. “We are doing another near-record year of investment into our infrastructure, so with that, unfortunately, comes a lot of orange barrels.”
The state will attempt to free up lanes this weekend by asking construction contractors to pull up as many of those barrels as possible. Still, some construction zones will remain and could constrict traffic. Motorists are asked to use caution in those areas, Bruning said.
On the road
Buckeye fans driving to Indiana University will find shifted lanes and reduced speed limits on several sections of Interstate 70 between Columbus and Indianapolis, although no backups are anticipated, said Nathan Riggs, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Transportation. Construction work will temporarily halt on Route 37 between Indianapolis and Bloomington, and lanes in both directions will be open for holiday and gameday traffic, INDOT spokesman LaMar Holliday said.
Back in Columbus, motorists on the North Side can expect to encounter construction zones as work continues on the North Side Fix project involving I-270, Rt. 23 and Rt. 315.
Expect orange barrels along I-71 southbound between Stringtown Road and Rt. 665 when heading into Grove City. No lane closures are expected, though, as a construction project to add lanes continues.
I-70 has construction zones between Hilliard-Rome Road and I-270 as lanes are added in each direction. There will be no additional restrictions.
In the Cincinnati area, several construction projects will restrict access along I-75 between I-275 and downtown. Also, a number of lane restrictions can be expected along I-71 between Liberty Township and downtown.
In Findlay, a widening project has closed the exit ramp from I-75 northbound to Rts. 68/ 15.
In the Cleveland area, sections of I-271 will have lane restrictions, including expected lane tightening and raisedpavement markers in areas.
ODOT suggests planning routes to avoid lane restrictions and closures. The department also recommends using its ohgo.com travel portal or app to stay abreast of roadwork updates and crashes.
At the pump
Gasoline prices across the country are expected to surge after Hurricane Harvey’s pummeling of Texas and Louisiana, home to a number of refineries.
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Franklin County was just a penny less than the state average of $2.31 early Wednesday afternoon. But those prices won’t last, predicted Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.
He estimated that regular unleaded prices in Ohio will jump this week to between $2.59 and $2.69 a gallon. And he expected the climb to begin by Thursday.
“Inventories are rapidly declining. And without a very quick fix, the U.S. is about to start eating through gasoline inventories,” DeHaan said. “In any situation when refineries — or Harvey, in this case — disrupt the very delicate balance of supply and demand for gasoline, you can see markets enter into a panic mode.”
DeHaan expects prices to peak in the next week or two and then fall, and they should decrease more as shipping channels in the Harvey-affected area reopen and allow crude oil to flow to Texas refineries.
At the airport
John Glenn Columbus International Airport expects no surge in air travelers through the holiday weekend, with most Labor Day travelers likely to drive to their destinations, Columbus Regional Airport Authority spokeswoman Angie Tabor said.