Editing Interstate 71 (section)

===Rebuilding and widening program===
In 1999, the state of Ohio began a 10-year, $500-million (equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US-GDP|500000000|1999}}}} in {{Inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|index=US-GDP}}) project to improve I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland. The plans did not include widening the {{Convert|25|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch in [[Delaware County, Ohio|Delaware]] and [[Morrow County, Ohio|Morrow]] counties, calling for patching that section instead. At that time, state transportation officials said they did not plan to widen that section for two reasons: traffic studies did not support the widening and there was no money for the project.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ferenchik |first=Mark |date=February 26, 2013 |title=3rd lane coming to I-71 by 2015 |url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/02/25/ODOT-plans-to-widen-last-25-mile-stretchof-I-71-from-Columbus-to-Cleveland.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007122536/http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/02/25/ODOT-plans-to-widen-last-25-mile-stretchof-I-71-from-Columbus-to-Cleveland.html |archive-date=October 7, 2014 |access-date=October 4, 2014 |work=[[The Columbus Dispatch]]}}</ref> But [[Ohio Department of Transportation]] (ODOT) officials eventually gave in under pressure from elected officials and business owners to widen the remaining {{Convert|25|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch of I-71 from just north of the [[U.S. Route 36 in Ohio|US&nbsp;36]]/[[Ohio State Route 37|SR&nbsp;37]] interchange in Delaware County to the Morrow–[[Richland County, Ohio|Richland]] county line.<ref name="I-71widening">{{Cite news |last=Hill |first=Todd |date=October 13, 2014 |title=I-71 widening almost finished |url=https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/news/local/2014/10/13/widening-almost-finished/17218447/ |access-date=June 19, 2015 |work=[[Mansfield News Journal]] |archive-date=June 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620065440/http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/news/local/2014/10/13/widening-almost-finished/17218447/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The reconstruction and widening on the last {{Convert|25|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch of I-71 in Delaware and Morrow counties began in early 2012, and the work was completed in mid-2015 at a cost of $144&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US-GDP|144000000|2015}}}} in {{Inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|index=US-GDP}}).<ref name=I-71widening/>