The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) determined many years ago that the spaghetti which constitutes our current 70/71/670 downtown freeways is massively underperforming and a huge safety hazard for drivers traversing their way near and through the City's central core.

Their solution?  A complete overhaul of miles of  freeway "trench," and on and off ramps, the reworking of collector and distributor streets (sounds absolutely sterile doesn't it?) and 13, count 'em, 13 new bridge crossings. 

This construction is huge.  Big in money - $1.7 billion, as of this printing, and rising - and big in time - Phases 1-6 to take as long as 10 years into the future.

The neighborhoods to the east and south of downtown will be most affected and that means thousands of people will be inconvenienced, hassled and, minimally, rerouted for the foreseeable future.  I can see the road rage now.

But this is not simply an attempt by ODOT to re-build a system that has outlived its usefulness (a system designed 50 years ago to move up to 125,000 cars daily now contends with more than 175,000 cars and spawns as many as 3 or 4 accidents daily). This is an opportunity as well. 

"An opportunity?" you say.  "Yes," resoundingly.

Listen up -  $1.7 billion is going to be put into the infrastructure serving our downtown.  What we do now will affect the face of downtown for generations to come.  So, now is the time to hang on every word that ODOT and the City say about this construction.  Now is the time to make downtown more accessible, more walkable, more inviting.  Now is the time to reconnect the downtown to neighborhoods that were severed by the construction in the 60's in the name of urban renewal.  Now, folks, is the time to pay attention and get involved.

To date, many affected downtown residents and workers are making themselves heard through individual organizations (of which there are many) and their specific needs.  But who is championing the cause of downtown as a whole?  Who is sitting at the table with ODOT to make sure there will be a commitment to comprehensive, high quality improvement throughout?  Who is trying to garner every single dollar possible for this project?

You may answer the City.  And you would be right.  The development department, the public safety department, and the parks and recreation department, as well as City Council, all have a hand in shaping the construction and its effect on downtown - whether for motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists and mass transit..

And the City is doing its job.  But, the City shouldn't be alone in negotiating with ODOT and that is why the Discovery Special Improvement District has formed a new Neighborhood Advisory Group, comprised of representatives of over 10 area groups to address the neighborhood issues raised by this construction.

The group's mission: to keep the neighborhoods informed of ODOT's progress; to focus on what is achievable, to get as many resources from ODOT as possible to make the street improvements desirable and not just "traversable";  and to ensure that the improvements are consistent and comprehensive throughout all affected neighborhoods.

I believe ODOT and the City want to do the "right thing"   Conversations had with many people suggest that.  But because money and time are constant constraints, trade-offs will need to be made.  We want to have an input in the multitude of choices that come with a construction of this magnitude.

Look for more information in the coming weeks and months about the specifics of the construction - What are the "Urban Avenues?"  What are Complete Streets?   Will they be inviting, pedestrian and bicycle safe, with slow moving traffic?  Will the reconstructed bridges look like the CAP over High Street leading to the Short North?  What are the implications of such an improvement on the historic districts surrounding downtown?   The questions are endless; the answers, yet to be determined.

The big question?   Will the result of $1.7 billion and years of planning and construction just look like another plate of spaghetti?

Let's hope not.