Ramp closed at busy US 35 interchange this week, affecting traffic

The interchange — located between Beavercreek and Dayton, and between Kettering and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — is a popular route near the Montgomery County-Greene County border.

The detour for this ramp closure is Linden Avenue to South Smithville Road to U.S. 35 eastbound, according to ODOT.

The ramp from U.S. 35 west to Woodman — shutdown since June — reopened last week, ODOT Spokeswoman Loryn Bryson said.

This week’s ramp closing “will allow crews to clean the drains to prepare for the next phase,” Bryson told the Dayton Daily News.

This spring ODOT shifted Woodman Drive traffic in both directions to the southbound lanes. After the northbound side is complete, the plan calls for all Woodman traffic to shift into those lanes and remain that way until September 2024, ODOT has said.

The four-day ramp closure later this fall will “further prepare for the traffic pattern shift,” which will “consist of transitioning traffic onto the northbound side Woodman to allow work to start on the southbound side bridge deck,” Bryson said.

The interchange work is expected to last until the fall of 2024, according to the state. The area was the site of a July death of a construction worker hit by a semi, authorities said.

ODOT does not have “direct involvement” with those type of construction safety measures, Bryson said.

But “motorists are always reminded to obey the speed limit, allow extra space between their vehicle and the one in front of them, and pay extra attention in the work zone,” she said.

The interchange project is part of the multi-phase U.S. 35 improvements between I-675 in Beavercreek and Steve Whalen Boulevard in Dayton, according to ODOT.

After this interchange work is complete, Riverside also has plans for a multi-year project to improve Woodman itself, from that crossroads to near the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

That work is targeted to start in April 2025 between the interchange and Eastman Avenue, Riverside records show. Upgrades from Airway Road to Springfield Street are in the design stage and have no firm start date, City Manager Joshua Rauch said Monday.

On average, about 62,600 vehicles per day traveled U.S. 35 east of Woodman in 2021, and the count was about 67,200 on the highway west of the road, according to the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission.

In that area of Woodman, the highest daily vehicle average for that year was 23,700 north of U.S. 35, data from the commission shows.