Columbus awards millions to widen busy stretch of East Broad Street on Far East Side

The Columbus City Council on Monday approved a $25.5-million contract to widen a one-mile stretch of East Broad Street east of Interstate 270 and improve numerous intersections and stretches of connecting roads on the Far East Side in 2028.

The road contract will make improvements to the intersections of East Broad with Taylor Station and McNaughten roads, including roughly .2-mile portion of McNaughten south of Broad.

McNaughten's busy traffic was highlighted during a particularly combative City Council meeting on June 24, when about 100 residents protested a zoning change for a major new apartment complex along two-lane McNaughten.

Councilmembers countered that a series of improvements are coming to McNaughten and the surrounding area over the next few years, including new turn lanes, sidewalks and recreational trails.

"One of the reasons why Council brought that zoning forward (last week) was the amount of traffic improvements that had been planned," Council President Pro Tem Rob Dorans told The Dispatch during a break in the June 24 meeting, which he presided over in the absence of President Shannon Hardin. "And here, literally one week later, we're approving over $20 million in traffic improvements in that area.

"It's a fair question for those residents to ask what is the plan to help alleviate some of the traffic concerns. And tonight here is Council in action saying: 'Here's the plan.'"

The project will improve two-tenths of a mile of Taylor Station Road from East Broad Street to the entrance of Mount Carmel Medical Park and 0.19s mile of McNaughten Road from East Broad Street to Ganse Lane.

In addition, a shared-use path will be added to East Broad Street, Taylor Station Road, and McNaughten Road, and the intersections along East Broad at Taylor Station, McNaughten, Blossom Field Boulevard, Outerbelt Street, and Chris Perry Lane will be upgraded.

At the June 24 meeting, residents who spoke repeatedly brought up traffic safety along the two-lane McNaughten between East Broad and Main streets. In 2019, they noted an 11-year-old girl was struck by two cars and killed while walking to a school bus stop at 6:23 a.m.

Despite being identified as dangerous by studies dating back decades, McNaughten still has no sidewalks, residents said, and the now approved 296-unit apartment complex at 198 McNaughten Road will further "load" the road with hundreds of new vehicle trips per day. Residents cited traffic jams that occur on McNaughten and along East Broad at certain times of the day, including when shift changes happen at Mount Carmel East Hospital.

"At one time, this was rural area, right, and as it continues to grow and Columbus continues to grow, we are taking safety very seriously," Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, chair of the Public Service and Transportation Committee, said during the meeting. "... I just wanted to highlight this as another way that we are addressing the challenges that we have."

In addition to the improvements approved Monday, the city is planning millions of dollars in new additional sidewalk connections, street lighting and storm sewers, and the Department of Public Service will be investigating locations for additional potential left turn lanes, with construction pegged for 2028.

wbush@gannett.com

@ReporterBush

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus awards millions to widen busy stretch of East Broad Street on Far East Side