Litter, clogged drains blamed for flooding issues, lane closures on NB I-75 Thursday

DAYTON — The left lane of northbound I-75 near Edwin C. Moses has reopened after two separate closures due to high water and water drainage Thursday.

Officers first reported areas of high water in the left lane of northbound I-75, north of the Edwin C. Moses Boulevard exit around 7:30 a.m. Thursday. The lane crews blocked was the contraflow lane which is set up as part of an ongoing Ohio Department of Transportation construction project.

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ODOT and Dayton police reopened the lane around 10:50 a.m., but closed it again around 12:30 p.m. The left lane reopened for a second time around 1:30 p.m.

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The issue causing the flooding was eventually traced to a drain clogged by debris, likely caused by high winds and other weather conditions this week, ODOT spokesperson Mandi Dillon told News Center 7.

“We’ve had a lot of crazy weather the last week. Between all of the high winds we’ve seen the last 24 hours, and warm temperatures and people being out, it turns out we had some litter that clogged a drain on I-75. We had crews go out and they worked to clear that drain and everything is open at this point,” Dillon said.

While the clogged drain and flooding caused two separate closures Thursday, Dillon said ODOT does not anticipate needing any additional closures Thursday. However, crews will be ready to respond if needed.

“The big thing for this entire week is just expect the unexpected. We have had a week where we’ve had warm temperatures, cold temperatures, rain, possible ice, snow, its really been a mixed bag of weather,” she said.

“Our crews are just keeping a really close eye on the forecast and they’re just ready to go as soon as things start happening.”

Backups and delays were reported throughout the morning with traffic being backed up for miles at times into West Carrollton.

The ODOT project is part of a nearly $19 million bridge project to repair the bridges in both directions of I-75 over the Great Miami River, Edwin C. Moses and Carillon boulevards, according to the ODOT page on the project.

The project started in September 2020 and is expected to be completed in the fall, according to ODOT.

We’ll continue to update this story as we learn more.

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