Planning to boost safety
ODOT seeking input
Trending
HOWLAND -- It is an intersection where many accidents, including fatal ones, have taken place over the years and now the Ohio Department of Transportation is planning changes to improve safety at state Route 82 and Howland Wilson Road.
To help plan for the $1 million intersection project set to begin in 2025, ODOT is seeking public input with an online 11-minute pre-recorded presentation on the project available at http://www.publicinput.com/TRU109521.
Ramon Marsch with ODOT District 4 said the virtual open house began Thursday on the proposed project, which is in the preliminary engineering phase that includes surveys, environmental studies, engineering and preliminary design tasks. Completion of the preliminary engineering phase is expected this winter.
Marsch said the project is expected to begin in spring 2025 and take six months with completion set for November 2025. No new permanent and / or temporary right-of-way is anticipated for the project and one lane of traffic in each direction will be maintained at all times.
Marsch said a lot injury-related and fatal crashes have happened at the busy intersection, with most occurring early in the morning and in the early evening.
"This project looks to improve the safety of this stretch of state Route 82. In our safety study from 2012 to 2016, there were 73 crashes and 43 percent of them resulted in injury. Most of these crashes were left turn and rear-end crashes. By eliminating the left turn, this project will bring those numbers down and improve the safety of the area,'' Marsch said.
The project proposes to restrict access to the state Route 82 / Howland Wilson Road intersection by eliminating left-turn movements from eastbound and westbound state Route 82. Additionally, the project proposes to remove the existing traffic signal and cul-de-sac northbound and southbound Howland Wilson Road while still maintaining access for vehicles turning right on Howland Wilson Road.
Howland Township Administrator Darlene St. George said the intersection is connected to the Diverging Diamond intersection west of the location at state Routes 46 and 82 to help get traffic flowing better and safer through the heavily traveled area.
ODOT has several intersection projects planned in upcoming years, including state Route 46 and Warren Sharon Road at Howland Corners, and state Routes 46 and 82 for the large Diverging Diamond project.
"There are three different major intersection projects that will be going on in the upcoming years. They will help with safety and getting traffic flowing better through the area,'' St. George said.
St. George said ODOT is focusing on busy intersections where many accidents occurm and in this case many fatal accidents.
"It is a unique intersection because few major routes have a traffic signal for stopping and people making a left turn. The concern has been the many accidents that happened there and many that have been fatal," St. George said.
The project is to be funded by ODOT and the Highway Safety Improvement program.
The public meeting had to be held online to comply with Gov. Mike DeWine's guidelines regarding limiting social gatherings in response to COVID-19.
Comments regarding the project may be submitted on the website through the comments form, or by direct contact to Sean Carpenter at 330-786-2274 or email at Sean.Carpenter@dot.ohio.gov by March 5.