LIMA__One year after opening the State Route 309 roundabouts at Napoleon Road and Thayer Road, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 1 declares the project a safety success. Traffic crashes and injury rates have dramatically decreased at both intersections.
“As a traffic engineer, you understand why constructing a roundabout will improve safety, but seeing the numbers is definitely satisfying,” said ODOT District 1 Deputy Director Chris Hughes. “These roundabouts are most certainly saving lives,” he said.
Between January 2019 to May 2022, the State Route 309/Thayer Road intersection had 29 crashes, with one fatal crash and 16 injury crashes. Since opening in August 2022, four crashes occurred, resulting in one minor injury, and three with property damage only. Not only did the number of crashes per year drop but the injury rate went from 58.6% to 25%.
“We have certainly noticed a decrease in accidents,” said Crossroads Church of God Pastor Brian Robertson whose church on the southeast corner holds two services each Sunday morning and operates The Learning Tree daycare throughout the week.
The roundabout at State Route 309 and Napoleon Road also saw a safety improvement. Prior to the roundabout, 11 crashes were reported between January 2019 and May 2022 resulting in eight injury crashes. In the one-year period since the roundabout opened, one minor injury crash occurred.
“Things are going well,” said Mel Rentschler, superintendent of Allen East Local Schools, located on the northeast corner of the intersection. “The traffic really slows down and the roundabout makes the intersection 100% safer for the students and everyone in the community,” he said.
Both Robertson and Rentschler note that traffic moves more efficiently.
“The flow of traffic for services on Sunday, and during the week for the daycare, has benefited as well. The roundabout handles the flow of traffic to our parking lot seamlessly,” said Robertson.
“The concerns we heard about increases in accidents, or the buses and trucks not being able to make it through, have not materialized,” said Rentschler.
“Intersection crashes that troopers respond to often result in injuries to motorists,” said Ohio State Highway Patrol Lima Post Assistant Commander Sergeant Nicholas R. Boes. “Vehicles traveling at highway speeds can have devastating effects when striking a vehicle that failed to yield at an intersection,” he said.
The roundabouts were funded through Ohio’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) which grew in 2019 under Governor DeWine through an increase in the motor-user fee to become one of the largest traffic safety programs in the country. The initial round of funding after the increase specifically targeted 150 intersections, including these two locations.
HSIP funds are available to both ODOT and local governments to make improvements that reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries on all public roads. The funding program made the Restricted Crossing U-turn (RCUT) at U.S. 30 and Thayer Road possible. The program has also awarded funding to improve intersection safety at State Route 81 and Thayer Road, and State Route 117 and State Route 501.
Roundabouts dramatically reduce the severity of crashes by causing all legs of the intersection to slow down and travel in the same direction. Nationwide, Federal Highway Administration statistics show that converting a two-way, stop-controlled intersection, such as these were, to a single-lane roundabout can result in a 40% reduction in total crashes, 75% reduction in injury crashes, and 90% reduction in fatal crashes.
The project’s success was recently recognized by ODOT/American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) with a 2022 award for Excellence in Highway Design. The roundabouts’ design consultant was Jacobs Engineering Group, Cincinnati.
