Members of the Lima Exchange Club heard an update on Ohio’s transportation system and future road projects from Ohio Department of Transportation District One Director Chris Hughes.
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Drivers passing through Van Wert on US 30 will now have a newly rebuilt rest area to visit.
Three of those projects will take place in Allen County. The first taking place in Lima on Cable Road between Latham Avenue and College Park. The $4.5 million dollar project will be used for signal upgrades, as well as the construction of medians and sidewalks. The next project is expected to install a roundabout at SR 117 and State Route 501 in Shawnee Township. The location had a project done in 2016, but improvements still need to be made.
They were on the governor's list of the top dangerous intersections in the state and just over 4 million dollars in funding was made possible to change that. The final striping is being done at the Napoleon Road and State Route 309 and paving is being completed at the Thayer Road and State Route 309 roundabout. Allen East Superintendent Mel Rentschler says that residents in the area have been asking that something be done for years. He says there have been too many times he has run out from the office to assist with serious crashes.
On Thursday, the Ohio Department of Transportation kicked off their construction season. A variety of projects are currently in place to begin. One major project will see Allen County have two new roundabouts installed at highly-traveled areas of State Route 309. Roundabouts will be installed at the Thayer and Napoleon Road intersections of State Route 309.
In Van Wert County, US 30 has a few new features on its roadway. They’ve painted arrows in all four lanes at each intersection between Boroff Road and State Line Road. This is part of a collaborative effort between ODOT and the Ohio State Highway Patrol as a way to cut down on wrong way accidents.
Since the corridor was established in 2019, around 90 violations for distracted driving and 2,300 speeding tickets were given out in that area - some promising results for ODOT and the Highway Patrol. But distracted driving is still an issue on Ohio’s roadways, and that affects more than just drivers. According to ODOT, 62 crashes involving road crews have happened throughout the state so far in 2021.
The interchange of I-75 and County Road 99 has been seeing a steady increase in traffic over the years as industrial parks pop up. With that, backed up vehicles and more crashes have been a result. To solve this, the Ohio Department of Transportation came up with a "diverging diamond" plan to replace the traditional design. The Deputy Director for ODOT District One, Chris Hughes, says this blueprint has been proven successful in bigger cities such as Toledo and Fort Wayne.
The overpass has been closed since December 22nd when an over-height vehicle struck the underside of the bridge. The damaged section of the deck has been removed and it is safe for motorists on U.S. 30 traveling under Slabtown Road. While emergency repairs were made for safety concerns, the timeline to complete the replacement of the bridge deck over the westbound lanes of U.S. 30 depends on a specific beam.
Construction areas on highways are a common sight in Ohio before the weather gets too cold, and that means that workers are on the roads. Unfortunately, crashes in these sites do happen - and that's why the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Highway Patrol are teaming up to make work zones safer around the state, including in Allen County between Bluffton and Beaverdam on I-75.