Over the past couple of years, dozens of accidents have happened at the intersections of State Route 309 at Thayer to Napoleon roads. On Wednesday night, ODOT met with people from the Lima-area to discuss plans to help solve this issue.
ODOT held a public meeting to discuss their plans for the intersections and receive input on what the community believes is the best option. Their current project consists of widening 309 and adding turn lanes at Thayer and Napoleon Roads or installing single-lane roundabouts at both locations. They have hired consultants Jacobs Engineering Group to design the project. This project is funded by Governor Mike DeWine's intersection safety program.
“What we’re trying to propose is to reduce those head-on collisions, to reduce the left turns,” said Rob White, ODOT District 1. “Roundabouts typically help with congestion issues which sometimes we see it backing up on Thayer and Napoleon.”
West Minster resident, Fred Myers says he isn't quite sure if a roundabout is the best option, but he's open to anything that will help reduce crashes.
“I think this is a start,” said Myers. “The talk is the roundabout. I think that’s probably the way the state will go. Whatever they think at this point and time it’s what we’ll go with.”
While some residents like Myers believes this could potentially be a good idea, others believe it could cause even more issues.
“I feel that they need to have more law enforcement in the area to enforce those kinds of things that are causing the problems,” said Jane Kimmell, a Lima-area resident.
Over the next 30 days, other residents will have the opportunity to provide their input by submitting letters online or through the mail.
“We want to talk to the property owners,” said White. “We want to talk to the businesses. See what their demands are. See what their needs are to make sure what we’re suggesting or what we want to do will accommodate what the community needs.”
After the input period, ODOT will make a selection in March, authorize designs for the project, and plans to start construction in 2022.
Those interested in providing their input or would like more information visit dot.state.oh.us.
