Following a sound study in 2010, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) told Franklinton residents at an area commission meeting that stretches of SR-315 and I-70 were once again eligible for a sound wall.

This was a re-confirmation, as ODOT had said in 1993 that Franklinton was eligible considering it was a “pre-existing” neighborhood, meaning the community was there before the freeways. And surely deserving of a sound wall, as SR-315 cuts through the middle of Franklinton’s eastern end while its southern end is almost entirely bordered by I-70.

Nevertheless, back in 2010, ODOT said the project could start in 2013 and be completed by 2023. Between this time, residents called ODOT for an update. There are more cars than ever on these freeways, they said, and the public health impacts are real. ODOT responded, saying there was a new plan in place. They were going to expand I-70 and the sound wall would be installed when this project would be completed.

The calendar turned to 2023, and there was still no sound wall or even a hint the 70-expansion project was in the works. Franklinton residents once again reached out to ODOT.

“That’s when we were told that in reality there is no [70-expansion] project planned. There might be the start of planning for a project in 2035. With the earliest date of completion to be about 2050. But this isn’t a sure thing,” says Rebecca Hunley, a Franklinton homeowner and the current chair of the Franklinton Area Neighbors Civic Association, an organization she founded. “There are sound walls all over Columbus. In fact, one just went in Andrew Ginther’s neighborhood. If you go to the fairgrounds, you will see sound walls, but not in Franklinton.”

There are two types of sound walls offered by ODOT. A sound wall for neighborhoods that existed before the advent of freeways and a sound wall for neighborhoods built after a freeway or an ODOT project is completed.  

“We were advocating for a Type 2 sound wall here [which is for pre-existing neighborhoods],” says Esther Dwyer DeBusk, an Environment Sustainability professor at Ohio State whose red brick Franklinton home is one hundred feet from 315. “We went through that process for months, and talked with the folks at ODOT for multiple times and they encouraged us to apply for it, and then two days before we were going to canvass to get signatures, they were like, ‘Oh, never mind. You are not eligible for this.’”

ODOT’s reasoning was that Franklinton had been re-classified because of the 70-expansion. And must wait until the 70-expansion is completed before ODOT even considers a sound wall.

“Where is the project? There is none,” Hunley said of the 70-expansion. “Franklinton needs a sound wall for existing neighborhoods. I sincerely believe that if Columbus leadership and legal departments had a chat with the new director of ODOT, that ODOT could move forward with a sound wall now. Is there a will for the City of Columbus to advocate for their residents?”

However, ODOT spokesperson for Columbus, Matthew McGuire, says the 70-expansion – along with the construction of a sound wall for Franklinton’s southern border along Thomas Avenue – has been preliminarily planned. The delay, he says, is the “massive undertaking representing billions of dollars invested” into the ongoing “Downtown Ramp Up.” Previously branded the “Columbus Crossroads” by ODOT, this project (which anyone can plainly see) is going to connect “two of the most heavily traveled highways in the state.”

“The project is divided into multiple phases and sub-phases that have been advanced individually. This is an approach that is used on many major infrastructure projects around the state in order to balance multiple priorities such as available budget, workforce capacity, and maintenance of traffic during construction,” McGuire wrote in an email to the Free Press. “The phases already completed and currently under construction have been focused where I-70 and I-71 overlap through downtown. Remaining phases will continue to move further out from downtown. Part of Phase 6 would widen I-70 and construct the sound wall along Thomas Avenue.”

Hunley hosts a civic meeting (Franklinton Area Neighbors Civic Association) four or five times a year and in May she invited City Council member Otto Beatty III. 

“Otto Beatty sat through it all,” said Hunley. “We talked about the City prosecutor’s office refusal to support Franklinton’s sound wall. [But] he did not have any comment.”

Adding insult to injury was how ODOT in April of 2024 “scraped” the slopes adjacent to DeBusk’s home and next to 315. ODOT’s contractors clearcut roughly six acres of trees and brush off the slopes of 315 and 70 which travel through Franklinton. Trees and brush that had been untouched for 45 years and acted as a natural sound barrier. DeBusk and Hunley pressed ODOT for an explanation.

“We had a meeting with them, and asked them, ‘Why did you do this?’” DeBusk said. “At first they were like, ‘We were removing invasive species.’ But they removed native species. Then they told us, ‘Oh well, there are homeless people living in there, so we have to get rid of the trees.’”

This was another ODOT excuse to Franklinton, says Hunley. Like the Downtown Ramp Up, it’s in plain sight that many other Columbus neighborhoods have watched sound walls go up during the time Franklinton has requested one.

“Franklinton was founded in 1797 and clearly existed before the freeways sliced through the neighborhood. ODOT’s claim must wait before the 70-expansion project is done is ridiculous,” says Hunley. “The project was supposed to happen from 2013 to 2023. But didn’t happen. Now the earliest completion date is 2050, which is ridiculous.”

McGuire says, “We have met with Franklinton residents on multiple occasions to discuss this topic.”

“The future phase will include some widening of I-70 and construction of a retaining wall, which is a structural component, and the noise wall would be built on top of this retaining wall. There is not a feasible way to construct the noise wall prior to the widening of I-70 and construction of the retaining wall,” he said.