Ohio road construction is a year-round reality, which makes sense when the Ohio Department of Transportation has to maintain more than 43,000 miles of highway.

Yet some projects, such as the plan to widen U.S. Route 33 near Columbus, are bigger than others. 

What are the 10 most expensive ODOT projects of 2025? We won’t know the real answer for a few more months. Here’s why.

Is there zipper merge etiquette? ODOT: The cars zooming to the orange barrels before merging are doing it right

Why we have to wait to learn which road projects are Ohio’s most expensive in 2025

Visit ODOT’s projects page and you’ll see a slew of big-money construction projects on the agenda. 

Some, such as the Brent Spence Bridge corridor construction in Cincinnati or the Interstate 70 and I-71 work in downtown Columbus, have costs that run to $1 billion or more. Even planned work with lower project costs have price tags that soar well into nine figures.

However, coming up with a definitive list of Ohio’s most expensive road projects at the start of the year is virtually impossible. 

Why?

Well, you can partly blame the winter weather in the Buckeye State. 

There are basically two ODOT seasons during the year – snow and ice removal, and construction season. Most construction projects don’t ramp up until the spring when the weather warms. That’s when ODOT bidding is over and project costs are finalized, according to Mat Bruning, press secretary for the Ohio Department of Transportation. 

The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge in downtown Cincinnati is an exception to the winter construction rule. A fire underneath the bridge Nov. 1 caused severe structural damage, but it could reopen sooner than expected as ODOT takes special measures to move repairs along.

“We’re doing things differently to pour concrete in December and January than we would in June and July,” Bruning said. 

Bruning also said the ideal temperatures to pour asphalt are 50 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. ODOT can cold patch potholes in the winter, but the materials and equipment are better suited for warmer temps that Ohio usually doesn’t have in the winter.

So if you want to see the most expensive ODOT projects of 2025, you’ll have to wait until the weather warms and the bids are finalized before construction workers break out the orange cones in Ohio.

Aerial video shows fire damage to Daniel Carter Beard Bridge

Drone video shows damages done to the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge by a massive fire. The damages caused a total closure of Interstate 471.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -The mystery of who killed Debra Miller more than 40 years ago in Mansfield has now been solved thanks to old-fashioned police work and DNA technology.

The announcement from police Monday was a reminder there are still hundreds of other unsolved cases across Ohio.

19 Investigates spoke to the attorney general on what cold cases the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is working on.

Case closed

Mansfield Police say they now know the identity of Debra Miller’s killer, the man who brutally beat the 18-year-old to death in her apartment back in 1981 and evaded police for decades.

DNA evidence led detectives to Debra’s neighbor, James Vanest, 68 years old.

He died in standoff with police last month.

You can read more about how police solved the case here.

Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann celebrated the big case solve.

But he’s already focusing on the next unsolved cases he has in his department.

“I would love to close every case, I would love to give every family the closure that they so deserve, but you know we take it one case at a time,” he said.

Hundreds of unsolved cases

19 Investigates got a copy of the Ohio Attorney General’s cold case database, which shows there are more than 2,000 unsolved homicides across the state.

“Even one unsolved murder case is a problem, it’s a tragedy. The people who loved that person don’t know what happened or how it happened or why it happened,” Attorney General Dave Yost said.

Attorney General Yost said it’s a fact some of these cases will never be solved, because they’re so old and the killers have passed away.

He said BCI’s Cold Case Unit is focusing on supporting local law enforcement in cases that happened over the last 40 years.

“We’ve got still an opportunity to get to a place of justice for those cases, not that the older cases don’t matter, but the ones I’m really excited about are the cases where new science can turn up a new lead. Where DNA advances will maybe able to bring information out of the old evidence that was collected in 1985 or something and lead us to the perpetrator,” he said.

Just one new lead could be enough to bring the families of these victims answers.

If you know anything about a cold case out there, give police a call.

Copyright 2024 WOIO. All rights reserved.

CLEVELAND — It didn’t work out for those hoping for “KOKANE,” “HEROIN,” “DOG TURD,” or “IH8OH1O” as their personalized Ohio license plate in 2024 (“IH8XICH” was rejected too).

As of Dec. 9, the Ohio BMV rejected 931 applications this year, which is up more than 20% compared to the same stretch in 2023.

Most requests are denied for including references to profanity, drugs, sex, or other inappropriate combinations of letters and numbers.

Members of the “KIA GRLZ,” “MAFFIA,” or just a “SCAMMER” were rejected as well.

One way drivers tried to sneak some personalized plate requests by the Ohio BMV this year was by embracing some of the letters already used in one of Ohio’s 194 specialty plates.

For example, perhaps it was a University of Cincinnati fan who unsuccessfully tried to pair the iconic “C” with a plate request for “OCAINE” back in May.

Ohio BMV Registrar Charlie Norman previously told News 5 that only a fraction of a single percent are rejected each year.

Political references to current President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and President-elect Donald Trump all made the rejected list as well.

See the full list of 2024’s rejected vanity plates from the Ohio BMV below.

WARNING: The plates listed below contain references, allusions to and altered spellings of profanity and sexually explicit terms, as well as potentially disturbing and upsetting hate language. Reader discretion is strongly recommended.

Here’s what made the list in 2023:

Here are the vanity license plate requests Ohio rejected in 2023

RELATED — 2023 LIST: Here are the vanity license plate requests Ohio rejected in 2023

Most of the requests that get denied fall into the vulgar or poor taste category. If you feel you’ve been unfairly denied, you can fight it.

RELATED — 2022 LIST: Here are the vanity license plate requests Ohio rejected in 2022

Drivers can get a vanity plate by applying online or in person. The cost is $50.

RELATED — 2021 LIST: Ohio BMV releases rejected vanity license plate names

Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard, on Facebook Clay LePard News 5 or email him at Clay.LePard@WEWS.com.

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