Two routing options on either side of Ashley, Ohio for a connector linking U.S. 23 and I-71 north of Delaware appear favored in a preliminary Ohio Department of Transportation report issued Wednesday morning.

They are among seven corridors ODOT and its consultants identified in a roughly guitar-pick shaped area encompassing parts of three Ohio counties bounded by U.S. 23 south of Marion, I-71 southwest of Chesterville, and State Rt. 95 and U.S. 36 between the two larger highways.

“Now, we’ll further refine those options, and look at what would it take to build it, what would the traffic patterns be, and how much it would cost,” said Matt Bruning, a spokesman at ODOT headquarters in Columbus.

The report marks the midway point of a study ordered last year by the Ohio General Assembly to i

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