Delaware County Commissioners recently approved the county engineer’s plans for improving Worthington Road and will accept construction bids until 10 a.m. Aug. 18.

“Delaware County has been working on that for the last several years,” said chief deputy engineer Robert Riley. “It will widen Worthington Road from Powell Road up to Africa Road. In about a month, the commissioners will hopefully be awarding a construction contract.”

The county estimates the cost of construction to be $5,713,000.

“That will actually tie into the planned extension of Gemini Place through the old Polaris Amphitheater,” Riley said. “Since that will be a five-lane road — two lanes in each direction, and a center turn lane — we’re doing this Worthington Road project to tie into that, so you don’t have two lanes in each direction matching up to one lane.”

Riley said the project is being coordinated by the Ohio Department of Transportation, with funds coming not just from the county, but also Columbus and Westerville. In 2017, an IKEA store is planned to open east of Interstate 71 along the Gemini Place extension.

“The Gemini project will have a pretty significant impact on the Polaris-area traffic,” he said. “It’s really going to shift traffic. Folks coming up from Columbus, or people who commute from Genoa or Orange townships to Columbus, they will just be able to use Worthington to Gemini and just avoid Polaris Parkway altogether to get to I-71.”

In other business last week, county commissioners approved:

• Purchasing three properties in connection with the widening of East Powell Road.

• A grant awarded by the Ohio Public Works Commission for the Home Road and Seitz Road intersection project.

• Replacing bridges at Miller Paul Road and Fredericks Road