Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio has dedicated $61 million toward 27 new trucker safety projects that will focus on mitigating traffic in numerous counties across the state.
The Ohio Department of Transportation Highway Safety Improvement Program will include installing restricted crossings U-turns, roundabouts, sidewalks and other measures aimed to improve overall road safety.
“Safe roadways are essential to connecting people and businesses across Ohio,” DeWine said. “ With the investments made in these projects, we will help save countless lives on Ohio’s roads.”
According to the program details, the Highway Safety Improvement Program will add a total of 17 new roundabouts to the state.
Roundabouts, according to the Federal Highway Administration, have been proven to reduce accidents and provide a number of safety benefits.
“Roundabouts are a proven design to reduce crashes by more than 48%, and more importantly serious injury and deadly crashes by nearly 80% when compared to a signalized intersection,” according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.
“These roundabouts are designed with large trucks and farm equipment in mind and will include a “truck apron” in the middle that allows larger vehicles to ride up over a curb as they navigate through,” according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Another trucker safety feature the Highway Safety Improvement Program hopes to implement is roadway reconfiguration, or what officials are calling a road diet.
Road diets, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation, “seeks to reallocate the cross-section of an existing roadway to better serve all modes of travel, including walking, biking and driving.”
“Our top mission is to ensure that our roadways are built to be as safe as possible,” said Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jack Marchbanks. “The measures we’re implementing with this program further that mission not only on roadways that ODOT maintains, but those maintained by local partners too.”
