{"id":206872,"date":"2026-06-12T20:44:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T01:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=206872"},"modified":"2026-06-12T20:44:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T01:44:55","slug":"two-new-counties-being-added-to-odot-district-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/06\/12\/two-new-counties-being-added-to-odot-district-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Two new counties being added to ODOT District 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new alignment involving six counties was discussed for approximately 40 years and it\u2019s all but official now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ohio Department of Transportation operates within 12 districts, each encompassing from three to nine counties depending on density of population. After years of discussion, in February of this year, ODOT announced a realignment of certain districts to create more logical boundaries, provide continuity for maintenance responsibilities, and bring counties with similar population and geography together. Those changes affect local and area ODOT Districts 1 and 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The realignment involves shifting six counties  — Auglaize, Defiance, Fayette, Greene, Mercer and Preble counties — into a neighboring district. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 “The main driver for realignment was the Dayton area, where an illogical structure existed that resulted in two different ODOT districts maintaining sections of Interstate 675 and Interstate 70,” said Chris Hughes, ODOT District 1 deputy director. “Now, all of I-675 and the western portion of I-70 is within District 7 creating less confusion and a logical maintenance divide.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hughes also said realignment distributes the workload for better balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ODOT District 1 included Defiance, Paulding, Van Wert, Putnam, Allen, Hancock, Hardin and Wyandot counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The transition, which will become official in July when the new fiscal year begins, resulted in District 1 gaining Auglaize and Mercer counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These counties are very similar in population and terrain to our existing counties in District 1 and we’re excited to serve those communities,” said Hughes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For District 2, Defiance County is now part of a four-county region it’s already closely aligned with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When we speak of the four-county region in local government, non-profit organizations, and education, we refer to Defiance, Fulton, Henry, and Williams counties,\u201d said Pat McColley, ODOT District 2 deputy ditrector. \u201cIt’s logical to have Defiance be part of District 2 that already encompasses its closest partnership counties.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the transition will become official next month, the six counties are now largely operating within their new assigned district.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff\/submitted information A new alignment involving six counties was discussed for approximately 40 years and it\u2019s all but official now. The Ohio Department of Transportation operates within 12 districts, each encompassing from three to nine counties depending on density of population. After years of discussion, in February of this year, ODOT announced a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-topstory"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 00:26:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206872"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206898,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206872\/revisions\/206898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}