Roadside Towing & Recovery Inc tow truck in Columbus, Ohio
Events & Places

Arena District Towing and Roadside Help, Day or Night

Stuck in an Arena District garage, lot or side street? Dispatch picks up at (740) 812-9489 around the clock for tows, jumps, lockouts and flats.

Call (740) 812-9489

Need Arena District towing in downtown Columbus? This page covers the neighborhood as a whole rather than any single game: the office towers along Nationwide Boulevard, the apartments up near Vine Street, the restaurants and bars that stay loud long after dark, and the stacked garages that serve all of it. Our trucks come up from the yard at 1620 Harrisburg Pike on the southwest side, and most metro calls are reached in 20–40 minutes, which is always an estimate rather than a promise. Below you will find how to describe your spot inside a garage, how a weekday lunch hour differs from a Saturday night, and which service fits a dead battery, a locked car or a vehicle that simply will not roll. Every charge comes from our published rate card, and you do not need a membership to call.

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Who calls us from the district, and when

The Arena District is not only an event zone. On a Tuesday morning the callers are commuters whose sedans sat in a garage overnight and refused to crank, or residents of buildings like Arena Crossing Apartments and Flats on Vine who found a flat in the lot. By lunch it shifts to office workers near Nationwide Boulevard and Front Street who locked the key fob inside while grabbing food.

After sunset the pattern changes again. Dinner crowds, bar patrons and people cutting through McFerson Commons toward the North Market end generate lockouts, low-tire calls and the occasional car that dies at a light on Neil Avenue. Because the neighborhood mixes all three groups, we treat each call on its own terms: a quick lockout for the diner, a jump start for the commuter, a tow for anything that is truly broken.

  • Weekday mornings: batteries that failed after a cold overnight in a garage
  • Midday: keys locked inside near offices and restaurants
  • Evenings and weekends: flats, lockouts and stalled cars on district streets

Garage recoveries: what to tell the dispatcher

The district's public parking map lists seven garages: McConnell, Front Street, Chestnut Street, Marconi, Arena Crossing, Neil Avenue and Kilbourne. Each has its own entrance street, posted clearance and floor numbering, so a vague location costs everyone time. We send low-profile trucks built for structures like these, but the driver still needs to know which ramp to take.

Before you hang up with dispatch, have these details ready. If you cannot find a sign, a photo of the nearest pillar marker texted to the driver works well. Our parking garage recovery page explains what happens when a car is wedged against a wall or has a locked steering column.

  • Garage name and the street you drove in from
  • Level number and the painted row, section or pillar code
  • Clearance height shown on the entrance bar, if you remember it
  • Whether the car is front-in or backed into the space

Streets, one-way blocks and highway ramps

Most district traffic arrives by I-670, whose Neil Avenue exit drops drivers right onto the neighborhood's west side, or from I-70 via the Fourth Street exit and Fulton Street up to Front Street. SR-315 feeds in along the western edge. Spring Street and Long Street near the river run one-way in opposite directions, which matters when you tell us which side of the block you are on.

If your car quits on an I-670 ramp or shoulder, stay buckled in with hazards on and call 911 first if you are in a live lane; then call us. Calls on a limited-access highway carry the $75 highway surcharge listed on the rate card. For a car that stalls on Nationwide Boulevard itself, pull toward the curb if it still rolls and note the nearest cross street, such as Neil Avenue, John McConnell Boulevard or Front Street. Our emergency towing crew can take it to your shop or to one of our auto repair partners.

When your car was towed by someone else

Empty parking space, no car? Before assuming theft, look for a tow-away sign. Private lots in Ohio may remove vehicles under ORC 4513.601 when the required signs are posted, and those signs name the company holding the car. Nationwide Arena also warns that vehicles left unattended in its West Street drop-off area can be towed. If police ordered the tow, the car usually goes to the city impound lot, and police dispatch that tow, not the driver.

We cannot release your car from the city lot or from another company's yard. What we can do is pick it up once you hold the release paperwork and take it home or to a repair shop. Our guide on finding a towed car in Columbus walks through the phone numbers, documents and fees you will need first.

Arena District: common questions

Frequently asked questions

How much does Arena District towing cost for a short move to a nearby shop?

A standard tow is $4 a mile en-route, a $125 hook-up and $7 for each loaded mile, so the distance to the shop drives most of the total. Add-ons apply only when they fit the call: $50 on weekends, $150 between 10 PM and 6 AM, $75 on a highway, and $100 for a large vehicle. The dispatcher will quote from the rate card before a truck rolls.

Will your truck fit inside a district parking garage?

In most cases, yes. We run low-profile trucks designed to clear the entrance bars of downtown structures, and wheel-lift units with dollies help in tight turns between pillars. Tell the dispatcher the posted clearance if you saw it and which level you are on. If a garage's height limit is lower than our equipment, we will say so up front and plan a different approach with you.

My car disappeared from a lot near Nationwide Boulevard. Did you tow it?

Almost certainly not; we do not patrol lots or enforce parking. Look for a posted tow-away sign, which lists the company that took it, or call Columbus Police non-emergency to learn whether it was a police tow. Once you have recovered the release, we can transport the car wherever you want it. Our towed-car guide lists the steps in order.

I locked my keys in the car outside a restaurant. What should I do?

Call (740) 812-9489 and tell the dispatcher the street, the nearest cross street and your car's make and model. Stay close to the vehicle so the technician can confirm you with it, and have your ID ready to show ownership. A lockout is a flat $75 plus en-route at $4 per mile from our yard, with the usual night or weekend add-ons if they apply.

My car sat in a garage all week and won't start. Can you jump it there?

Yes. A car parked for days, especially in winter, often has a battery too weak to crank. Our jump start includes a battery test with a printed report, so you will know whether it just needed a charge or is failing. If it is failing, we can install a replacement on the spot instead of sending you off hoping it survives the drive home.

Are you the Arena District's official towing or parking company?

No. Roadside Towing & Recovery Inc is an independent, insured towing company based on Harrisburg Pike. We have no partnership with the Arena District, its garages, its venues or the City of Columbus, and we do not keep trucks staged in the neighborhood. We respond when drivers call us directly, the same as anywhere else in the metro.

Related help

Roadside Towing & Recovery Inc is an independent towing company and is not affiliated with the Arena District, its developers or parking operators, Nationwide Arena, Huntington Park, ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, or the City of Columbus.

Roadside Towing & Recovery Inc (dba Columbus Roadside Towing).
Corporate office (private, no walk-ins): 3879 Regatta Ct, Lewis Center, OH 43035
Tow yard & impound lot: 1620 Harrisburg Pike, Columbus, OH 43223
(740) 812-9489 · chris@columbusroadsidetowing.com

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