St. Rt. 309 roundabouts to open Friday

Aug. 16—ALLEN COUNTY — With cooperating weather this week, two newly constructed roundabouts on state Route 309 should be open Friday.

State Route 309 between Pevee and Cool roads has been closed since June 1 to allow for the construction of the two roundabouts and the replacement of three culverts.

Chris Hughes, deputy director of Ohio Department of Transportation district 0ne, said, "The Thayer Road intersection at Route 309, which was ranked as the number two safety concern in ODOT district one and 26th statewide in a three-year study period, saw 23 crashes. Napoleon Road and Route 309, which was ranked number four in our district, had 18 crashes during the same three-year period.

"Leading up to this project, we did try some other things. We did do some things with restricting turns; we tried some things with signing; we added lighting; we tried some kind of low-cost countermeasures that tried to improve the crash situation but unfortunately, those low-cost measures were unable to make a meaningful impact."

Trooper Scott Mershman with the Ohio State Highway Patrol said, "Everything that we do has to be purposeful and impactful. Working with ODOT on projects like this is how we accomplish that mission. Our mission is to protect life and property by traffic safety — the reduction of fatal crashes, and the removal of impaired drivers. The roundabout here that they have installed and the one down the road are good examples of interagency collaboration."

Roundabouts that have been built around the country have reduced fatal crashes by 90%, injury crashes have been reduced 75%, and there has been a 40% reduction in crashes.

Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409