Hardy Parkway Street will close for approximately 30 days starting Aug. 17, as the $8.9 million Frank Road roundabout project moves into its next phase. The closure begins two days before Hilliard City Schools students return for the first day of classes on Aug. 19, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Brown Road south of Frank Road is already shut down and will remain closed through Aug. 17, the Franklin County Engineer's Office said on X on Aug. 7. The back-to-back closures mean drivers who have been detouring around Brown Road will soon need a new route once Hardy Parkway Street goes down.
The timing matters. Families driving to Hilliard schools along this corridor should plan extra travel time starting Aug. 17.
The project is building two multi-lane roundabouts on Frank Road in Franklin Township, just east of Hilliard: one at the Brown Road/Hardy Parkway Street intersection and a second at the Brown Road (Township) intersection. Crash data drove the decision. Between 2017 and 2019, 56 collisions occurred at those intersections, including one fatality and 21 injury crashes, primarily from left-turn collisions and failure to yield, according to the county's public comment response document. Another 37 crashes, including nine injuries, followed from 2020 to 2022.
The Franklin County Engineer's Office said the Hardy Parkway Street closure is weather permitting. Side streets are being closed one at a time, each with posted detours of approximately three miles.
Beyond the roundabouts, the project adds sidewalks, a shared-use path, drainage improvements, intersection lighting and utility relocations. Construction began in February and is expected to wrap up in fall 2026. The project received federal safety funding secured after a Frank Road Corridor Study completed in March 2021 documented the intersection hazards. The contractor's low bid came in at $8,924,851.03, per the county's 2026 Capital Improvement Program.
Specific detour routes for the Hardy Parkway Street closure have not been published.
Upcoming community dates:
- Aug. 17 — Hardy Parkway Street closure begins; Brown Road (south) closure ends
- Aug. 19 — First day of school, Hilliard City Schools
- Nov. 7 — St. Brendan Knights of Columbus craft show (registration now open)
