The $190-million plans to improve the North Central Outerbelt again will be on display for the public next week, this time with an addition aimed at making access to York Temple Road safer.

The Ohio Department of Transportation will host an open house meeting from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 9 at the Worthington Schools Administration Building, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

The goal of the project is to rebuild the three interchanges on Interstate 270 -- at state Route 315, U.S. Route 23 and Interstate 71.

U.S. 23 would be reconstructed between I-270 and Flint Road.

"We're recommending moving access to York Temple Road to a safer location," said Michelle May, ODOT spokesperson. "It would move north to a signalized intersection at Campus View (Boulevard)."

Currently, access to the road is located south of Campus View.

May said it is the only major change in the plans since the project last was presented at an open house in February. This will be the last public meeting for the plans, which are expected to go into the detailed design phase, with construction possibly beginning in 2006.

The plans call for:

• $70.5-million worth of improvements to northbound U.S. 23, creating express lanes in a trench down the center of the road, which would bypass all signalized intersections. Through traffic would travel on outside lanes. The movement of the York Temple access is part of this phase of the project.

• $54-million upgrade of the Route 315 interchange, replacing loop ramps with flyover ramps designed to reduce almost 80 percent of weaving and merging, according to ODOT information. This portion also would include the creation of through lanes for I-270 traffic. Flyover ramps reduce weaving and accommodate higher speeds by separating different traffic movements and flattening curves.

• $39-million in improvement to the Route 23 interchange, replacing loop ramps with ramps that lead to a signalized intersection, similar to the design of the Sawmill Road interchange, but with two intersections instead of one.
  $26-million in upgrades to the I-71 interchange, replacing the I-270 east to I-71 north ramp with a flyover ramp, designed to eliminate all weaving and merging on that route.

May said the improvements at I-71 would be the first part to be built because it is the easiest to execute.

According to information provided by ODOT, the North Central Outerbelt is the fourth most congested, high-crash freeway section in Ohio, with 180,000 vehicles per day and 542 accidents per year, mostly caused by the outdated design and close proximity of the interchanges, which cause excessive weaving and congestion. The interchanges were built in the 1960s and serve up to 20 percent more traffic than they were designed to handle.