Staff report

The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission recently approved its 2024 budget that will fund multiple capital improvement projects across the 241-mile toll road, including replacing the Boardman Canfield Road / U.S. Route 224 bridge over the turnpike.

The budget includes nearly $238 million for projects beginning in 2024, along with completing projects from this past year. According to the turnpike’s press release, about $16.4 million remains in uncommitted funds for unforeseen expenditures this year.

Of the turnpike’s entire 2024 budget, $162 million is allocated for road and bridge projects. Along with that, nearly 142 lane miles of pavement will be resurfaced and an extensive amount of work will be performed on 26 bridges throughout the state.

Replacing the overpass in Canfield is the biggest project that will be completed in Mahoning County. There also will be mainline resurfacing from milepost 230 to 236 and the completion of pavement work at the Eastgate Toll Plaza.

There also will be work done in Summit and Portage counties.

The bridge replacement over Tinker’s Creek will continue and then there will be further bridge work in Portage County along state routes 43 and 88 and Bryant Road and North Main Street.

The planned 2024 capital expenditures also include the completion of the toll collection system modernization program and the design, furnishing and installation of the Intelligent Transportation System cameras and sign boards along the Ohio Turnpike’s mainline.

RECORD YEAR

According to Friday’s newsletter from the turnpike, passenger car and commercial truck customers traveled a record 3,131,669,772 miles — a 2% increase compared to 2022. Passenger cars traveled 1,936,873,837 miles, which is up 5.2%, Trucks traveled 1,194,795,935 miles, which is down 2.2%. In total, there were 50,722,769 trips on the Ohio Turnpike in 2023, which was up 2.3% from 2022.

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