News Releases
I-75/CR 99 Interchange Improvements Slated Near Findlay-area Campus 
Posted on April 17th, 2024
Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials informed a capacity crowd of more than 130 people at the Owens Community College Findlay-area Campus about fulfilling a 7-year vision to improve the I-75/County Road 99 interchange.
The 3-year project will begin this spring and culminate in 2026, when the diverging diamond interchange will be completed to better accommodate existing and future traffic along Hancock County’s busy northern corridor, ODOT officials said.
The project will include road enhancements along County Road 99 extending from County Road 140 to the west and the Lowe’s Distribution Center to the east; Lowe’s is about one-half mile from the Owens campus.
The interchange is located 3 miles west of the Owens campus.
“When it’s completed, you will clearly see the benefit it has on the traveling public,” Michael Butler, ODOT’s project engineer, told the audience of business owners, government officials and other interested parties, including representatives from Blanchard Valley Health System.
ODOT officials organized the public meeting with Owens Findlay-area Campus Dean Brad Wood, who was in attendance along with a handful of other Owens employees. Butler and ODOT’s Rob White spent time reviewing the project schedule, how a diverging diamond interchange (DDI) works and the interchange’s benefits, which include increased capacity, efficiency and safety.
Chuck Bills, the former Owens Board of Trustee member who is president and CEO of Findlay’s Tall Timbers Ohio Logistics, was among the audience members to ask questions.
Tim Mayle, the executive director for the Center to Advance Manufacturing, a unique partnership created by Owens, the University of Findlay and Bowling Green State University, also addressed the audience as a member of ODOT’s Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC). The council approves the development and construction of major ODOT projects such as I-75/County Road 99 exchange.
He said to look at the project through the lens of enhancing safety, providing more traffic capacity and increasing the investment for businesses after completion.
“This is important to the county,” Mayle said.
For more information, visit ODOT’s project site: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/projects/projects/102375