Upcoming Chillicothe Ross Chamber Events Include Career & Technology Center Summit and 2026 Annual Awards Dinner
Chillicothe & Ross County — A new version of disruptive construction work on North Bridge Street / State Route 159 is under way again, and ODOT explained aspects of it in Friday’s “State of the Community.”
The Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce hosted the event at the Chillicothe Country Club on March 27th, 2026. It included Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney’s “State of the City” presentation, and an update on changes at Centrus Energy at the federal reservation near Piketon (learn more in those stories).
Chamber president and CEO Mike Throne closed the event, mentioning two upcoming chamber events. (Hear his him his own words below.)
- The “Business & Educational Workforce Summit 2026” on the morning of April 10th at the Pickaway-Ross Career & Technology Center
- The Chamber’s 2026 Annual Awards Dinner on May 12 at Bell Manor, with the theme of “250 Years of Adventure.”
As part of the “State of the Community,” Tom Barnitz, ODOT Project Manager, gave an update on their continuing work on Bridge Street, which is also State Route 159. Barnitz said his presentation would not be much different from his previous presentations the state project, which were given to Chillicothe Council among others.
Below are selected slides from (an imperfect conversion of) Barnitz’s PowerPoint presentation, provided by the Chamber. Scroll through all the selected slides to see QR code links to ODOT’s information pages on traffic options and construction updates. You can also view the entire presentation, converted into a video, at the end.
North is to the right, with the Scioto River on the left side, U.S. 35 in the center, and the Chillicothe Mall / Zane Plaza on the right:
Barnitz pointed out that the current traffic hassle, with southbound Bridge Street closed at the overpass, is the ‘least worst’ choice that ODOT could make:
The construction work and partial closure this season has two phases. The below photos are looking north, through the U.S. 35 overpass:
Currently, the west side of Bridge Street is closed at the overpass, with northbound traffic deflected into the easternmost lanes. This will allow complete replacement of thick pavement, as well as excavation for a pedestrian “shared use path” at the bridge abutments.
In the map, most of green is closed for reconstruction, and brown is used for northbound traffic:
In the second half of the construction season – starting about mid-July – the southbound lanes will remained closed when northbound Bridge Street is shifted onto the new west side of the street for reconstruction of the east side:
The eastbound onramp appears to remain open to northbound traffic, but instead of the westbound cloverleaf onramp, ODOT’s plan shows a single northbound lane into the southbound onramp (in blue on the map) – still with southbound Bridge Street using it:
Also keep in mind that the U.S. 35 eastbound offramp to Bridge Street will have its end realigned – which will certainly involve partial closure there. And, the eastbound onramp from High Street / SR 104 onto U.S. 35 will remain closed.
A major addition to Bridge Street is safe space for pedestrians and cyclists. A “shared use path,” a combination sidewalk / bike path, is being created along the east side, with a sidewalk along the west.
Part of the shared use path is a raised deck that has been added on the east side of the Scioto River bridge, to protect pedestrians and cyclists. The path then ties into the existing path along the floodwall…which extended to the East Side of Chillicothe, as well as to Frankfort and Washington Court House, and beyond.
Creation of the path and sidewalk on both sides of Bridge Street under the US 35 overpass will involve excavating part of the highway fill and adding stone-textured concrete retaining walls. (Presumably, the concrete abutments are full-depth, and so removing the sloping fill is not a structural concern.)
