In 2020, ODOT planned to widen I-475
… in West Toledo and Sylvania Township to six lanes. Many from the surrounding neighborhoods opposed this plan, as it adds 36% more asphalt through the densest residential neighborhoods along the entire metro Toledo beltway. Additionally, it would take all or part of thirteen residential parcels including at least five entire homes. ODOT postponed the plan, but now it is back. We are a coalition of residents and organizations fighting to prevent this unnecessary and wasteful plan from becoming a reality.
Widening I-475 Is Not Needed
ODOT claims that congestion and safety issues are the reason I-475 must be widened. Even as civil engineers have pointed out for years that widening highways does not reduce congestion, and only induces increased traffic, I-475 statistics from the Federal Highway Administration in 2022 indicate an average congestion delay of only one minute, ranking eastbound traffic 8,664th in the nation and westbound traffic 7,608th. Meanwhile, calculating ODOT statistics indicates a crash rate of only 0.00037%. And their own data does not support their claims of traffic counts.
Click here for Congress for New Urbanism article “Why Urban Freeway Expansion Is Futile“
Demonstrations of Induced Demand
Traffic Statistics Don’t Back Up ODOT’s Claims
Click here for the Federal Highway Administration’s Freight Mobility Trends Tool
This webtool is complex but informs the Federal Highway Administration nationally on highway bottlenecks and on congestion time delays, and ranks the bottlenecks.
The image to the right shows ODOT’s own 2022 recorded traffic counts west of Talmadge Road.
Widening I-475 Is Not Wanted
When ODOT first introduced this project in 2020, after strong neighborhood opposition ODOT decided to table it. After quietly reintroducing the project again in 2023 (without notifying residents), ODOT’s own schedule called for the first and only public meeting to be held in Spring 2024 – months after a deadline to explore alternatives would pass. Area residents organized their own public meeting in July 2023, with over 100 in attendance. All citizens who spoke at the meeting voiced continued opposition to the project, as citizens had in 2020.
Click here for ODOT’s Spring 2023 Newsletter as they restarted the plan
Some notes about the Spring 2023 Newsletter:
- No one in the neighborhoods received this newsletter, despite significant interest from residents during ODOT’s 2020 proposal. Many asked to be kept updated but were excluded. Then, this Spring 2023 newsletter went only to politicians and expansion proponents, apparently.
- The public will not be included until ODOT’s plan is near finalized in the Spring of 2024. If finalized, no public forum is provided beforehand for residents who may lose their homes or those who are in limbo about decisions to invest in their property. Those neighbors may wait until at least 2030 to make those investment decisions if the expansion is completed. These and other shared concerns from the neighborhoods seem unimportant to ODOT.
Widening I-475 Damages and Destroys Private Property
Amid a local and national housing crisis, the I-475 widening project would demolish at least five homes and take portions (“strips”) of private property for at least eight others. Noise levels, already extremely high, will increase dramatically, eroding property values across the board.
Click here for ODOT’s 2020 maps of planned private property demands
The gallery to the right shows some of the houses slated to be demolished by ODOT.
Click here to see graph of economic impact for property owners when highway decibels increase
The image to the right shows I-475 intense impacts as they currently exist in nearby residential neighborhoods
Widening I-475 Hurts Community
This stretch of I-475 has the highest population density of the entire metro-Toledo beltway, impacting far more residents than any other area. This area is also economically and racially diverse, being a place where families of color or their decedents settled after being displaced during I-75’s construction in the 1960’s. Widening the highway will further disconnect neighbors from one another by reducing walkability and connectedness.
Click here for comparison of demographic changes from 1960 to 2020
Widening I-475 Hurts the Environment
Continuing to promote urban sprawl by investing in highway expansion will increase the impact of climate change. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, transportation accounts for the largest portion of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States (29%). We can lower these emissions by investing in urban design that promotes compact, walkable neighborhoods instead of more highway lanes.
Better Alternatives Exist
ODOT’s plan is an outdated model of transportation planning. Expanding the entire metro-Toledo beltway, including this proposed segment, was a concept initially pushed from 2002 to 2007. The $186 million to be spent if ODOT’s plan proceeds (that cost before property acquisition) could be applied to far better transportation projects – including developments that reduce the harm inflicted upon neighborhoods by highway construction. In fact, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently established its Reconnecting Communities grant program, which provides funding for projects that reduce the division of neighborhoods caused by highway creation and expansion.
Other Resources
Congress For The New Urbanism
CNU works to identify regulatory barriers, knowledge gaps, financing hurdles, and local inequalities that stand in the way of great urbanism.
Strong Towns
There is a Strong Towns local conversation group here in Toledo. They can be reached via email at strongtownstoledo@gmail.com, you can join the conversation on Discord, or you can find them on Instagram
Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program
A federal initiative to reconnect communities by removing, retrofitting, or mitigating highways that create barriers to community connectivity.
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Send Checks To:
3455 Drummond Road
Toledo, OH 43606
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