Drivers crossing downtown Columbus this Halloween weekend will need a different route west, because the Ohio Department of Transportation is closing Interstate 70 westbound between Interstate 71 and State Route 315 from 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, until after 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, according to ODOT information reported by The Columbus Dispatch.
The closure shuts one direction of one of the busiest stretches of highway in Ohio for the entire weekend. ODOT is using the time for bridge patching work on the interstate, a job that normally involves removing and replacing old concrete, ODOT spokesperson Hannah Salem said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The ramp from I-70 westbound to the I-71 southbound flyover will also close for the same period, ODOT said in the information reported by The Columbus Dispatch. That means drivers who normally swing from westbound I-70 onto southbound I-71 through downtown will need to follow a posted alternative instead.
ODOT’s recommended detour for the main closure sends I-70 westbound traffic onto I-71 northbound, then to Interstate 670 westbound, and back to I-70 westbound. For drivers headed south on I-71, the department’s detour runs I-71 southbound to I-670 westbound, then to SR 315 southbound and back to I-71 southbound.
The timing puts the closure squarely over Halloween weekend. Friday night brings high school football playoff games across central Ohio, along with trick-or-treat crowds in many communities, and Saturday and Sunday traffic will include shoppers, churchgoers and anyone traveling for fall events. Drivers who do not need to cross downtown can avoid the area entirely by using the I-270 outerbelt.
The weekend’s work is not a one-off repair. It is part of ODOT’s I-70/I-71 Downtown Ramp Up project, a $1.4 billion effort to revamp and redesign the highways where the two interstates overlap and split around downtown Columbus, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s reporting on the project.
That overlap, often called the downtown trench, has been under near-constant construction attention for years as the state works through the massive redesign in phases. Full-direction closures like this weekend’s are how crews get extended, uninterrupted access to bridge decks and pavement that cannot be patched safely in short overnight windows with traffic running beside them.
Bridge patching is the kind of unglamorous work that decides how a highway ages. Removing deteriorated concrete and replacing it before it fails keeps a bridge deck serviceable and avoids the far more disruptive emergency repairs that follow when deck problems are left to grow. Doing it under a planned closure, with signed detours, is the controlled version of that work.
Central Ohio drivers have had plenty of practice with work-zone routing this fall. Road crews across the region are wrapping up the 2026 construction season — in northwest Ohio, for example, Toledo just closed out its 2026 road season with 111 residential streets resurfaced — and Columbus drivers dealt earlier this season with incidents such as the crash in which a car hit a utility pole downtown and knocked out power to hundreds.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: the westbound lanes of I-70 between I-71 and SR 315 close at 10 p.m. Friday, the I-70 westbound ramp to the I-71 southbound flyover closes with them, detours are signed through I-71, I-670 and SR 315, and the closure is scheduled to lift after 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2. What we’re still waiting on: whether weather or the condition of the bridge deck changes that reopening time, which ODOT typically confirms as the weekend progresses.
What happens next is straightforward: the closure begins at 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, and the lanes are scheduled to reopen after 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in time for the Monday morning commute. Drivers headed downtown this weekend should build in extra time, follow the signed detours rather than neighborhood shortcuts, and check ODOT’s traffic updates before leaving.
Only the westbound direction is closing. The Columbus Dispatch reported that ODOT will close one direction of the interstate for the weekend work, and the department’s announced closure and detours cover I-70 westbound and the westbound ramp to the I-71 southbound flyover — eastbound I-70 through downtown is not part of the announced closure.
The weekend timeline, as ODOT announced it and The Columbus Dispatch reported it, runs like this: the closure begins at 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30; the westbound lanes and the flyover ramp stay closed through Saturday, Oct. 31, and Sunday, Nov. 1; and the interstate is scheduled to reopen after 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, restoring the normal downtown pattern before the workweek begins.
Photo: Jsjessee, CC BY-SA 2.0