Toledo Freeway Fighters Are Weaponizing ODOT’s Data Against It
I-475 in Toledo, Ohio. (Source: Flickr/Ken Lund.)
Across the country, Departments of Transportation justify expanding highways by citing how increased capacity will relieve traffic congestion, fertilize economic growth, and promote safety. In Toledo, Ohio, residents facing displacement from the incipient Interstate-475 widening are busting these myths. And they’re doing so using the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT’s) own data.
What Counts as Congestion
Learning that I-475 was congested was news to Peggy Daly-Masternak, who has become a central voice in the opposition to the widening. She lives right off of I-475—“475 feet from I-475,” as she puts it. While she can readily lambast the noise generated by trucks and other vehicles on it, gridlock is not something she’s ever associated with the highway, yet “traffic congestion reduction” is the central motivation for I-475’s widening according to project documents.
In a national ranking of truck bottlenecks, the segment up for expansion sits at 7,608th place in the westbound lane and at 8,664th in the eastbound lane. The resulting “time in minutes,” or TTI, added to a trip in peak traffic is about 1.2 minutes in the westbound lane and a single minute eastbound, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s 2022 report on Freight Management and Operations. In Daly-Masternak’s experience, and that of many other locals equally bewildered by ODOT’s claims, those numbers track.
For comparison, Daly-Masternak brings up the Cross Bronx Expressway, a section of the I-95 which cuts through The Bronx in New York City. It occupies the number-one spot in that same ranking, adding approximately 47 minutes to every New York City car commuter’s ride.
Average daily traffic data, or AADT, along the corridor likewise doesn’t serve ODOT’s case. Besides, the numbers differ depending on where you look. A Federal Highway Administration report cataloged the 2022 AADT at 63,248, whereas a traffic counter on ODOT’s website registered the AADT at only 56,834 for that same year, a high for a five-year period. Neither figure would justify ODOT’s plans, according to Daly-Masternak, but the discrepancies definitely undermine ODOT’s arguments.
In the end, however, it wouldn’t matter if the I-475 were marginally more congested. “Don’t believe their lying eyes!” she laughed.
ODOT is operating on the assumption that additional lanes will relieve traffic, something she and advocates in the I-475 Neighbors Coalition and Strong Towns Toledo, a newly formed Local Conversation, have spent the last few months debunking with the help of resources from the Center for New Urbanism and Strong Towns. When not pointing to data, real life examples like Houston’s 26-lane permanently plugged up Katy Freeway serve as adequate evidence.
Additionally, the costs—displacement of longtime residents, destruction of natural areas, deepening of car dependency—far outweigh the projected benefits. Advocates believe they’re also at odds with ODOT’s own statements on equity. For example, the “secondary needs” of the widening assert the project is in line with “reconnecting communities.” In that section, ODOT admits the highway’s original construction “bisected many neighborhoods when it was built in 1968.” ODOT’s attempt to remediate historic harms is to consider implementing “complete streets elements… where possible.” Daly-Masternak could only shake her head at the idea that further eroding the neighborhood would somehow reconnect it. “It’s insulting.”
That said, scrutinizing ODOT’s data continues to be the backbone of I-475 Neighbors Coalition’s advocacy. They feel it’s how they can best undermine ODOT’s selling points.
Daley-Masternak is even thankful for the volume of errors. “It’s all out there for the public to see,” she pointed out. However, proving ODOT wrong isn’t attracting as many allies in local government as she had hoped. “The residents are all opposed to it. We’ve even got civil engineers opposed. Environmental organizations…” she added. “But our local officials are staying quiet.”
Taking Data to the Streets
That’s why she, the I-475 Neighbors Coalition, and Strong Towns Toledo are taking their data to the streets. “I’ve done all the hand-shaking,” Daly-Masternak said. “And I’ll keep doing it. But I think it’s time to make a bigger statement.”
The advocates are planning a demonstration on the highway itself on Tuesday, October 24. They’re calling it “The Nightmare on I-475.” Dressed as traffic barrels, wolves, and data points, the freeway fighters are planning to only to draw attention to their fight, but use the spotlight to scrutinize ODOT’s claims that more lanes will produce safer conditions for road users.
It wouldn’t be the first time activists took over a highway to make a point. In 2018, a local business improvement district (BID) in Denver, Colorado drew attention to an interchange that took the lives of over 25 pedestrians and cyclists by shutting it down for a pop-up festival. The BID took over the southwest quadrant’s ramps in exchange for live music, food, and an opportunity for community members to vote on what they want to see happen to the interchange over the long-term.
“Having a fun event in the neighborhood—in the actual space—draws attention not only to the decision makers but also to the broader community so we can really boost how much influence we have and make a splash,” Anne Kuchenmeister, a local planner, told Streetsblog the year of the demonstration.
In Toledo, advocates are excited about the costumed demonstration. Even though they’re using it as an opportunity to challenge ODOT and advance statistics they find groundbreaking, they’re looking forward to having a little fun in their fight against the I-475 widening. Most of all, they hope someone will listen.
This piece is the first of several stories about the I-475 widening in Toledo, Ohio.
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Asia (pronounced “ah-sha”) Mieleszko serves as a Staff Writer for Strong Towns. A dilettante urbanist since adolescence, she's excited to convert a lifetime of ad-hoc volunteerism into a career. Her unconventional background includes directing a Ukrainian folk choir, pioneering synaesthetic performances, photographing festivals, designing websites, teaching, and ghostwriting. She can be found wherever Wi-Fi is reliable, typically along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.