Construction zone along I-75 facing changes after 2 fatal crashes within weeks

MORAINE — A new change is on the way for a construction zone on I-75 and it’s coming after there were over 50 crashes reported in the area last month, including two that were deadly.

After investigating the two deadly wrecks in the construction zone between Dayton and Miamisburg in the last month, Moraine Police have concerns.

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“We’ve got an area that has proven to be dangerous and now we’ve restricted lanes,” Moraine Police Sgt. Andrew Parish said. “We’ve crossed lanes over on the other side of the interstate.”

State data that News Center 7 pulled Friday showed that over the last five and a half years, there have been 2,500 crashes along I-75 between Dayton and Miamisburg. That is roughly the section of the highway the new construction zone covers. The data showed that 213 of those wrecks have been “work zone related.”

Parish said the police’s biggest concern with the new construction zone is drivers who are speeding.

“Folks just aren’t slowing down. They’re not taking their time. They’re not being careful through this area and it’s proven now to take the lives of at least two people,” Parish told News Center 7′s John Bedell.

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The posted speed limit in the construction zone is 55 mph, but Moraine police said most drivers are going faster than that. Because of that, Moraine police have been talking with their law enforcement partners about speed enforcement in the area.

A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Transportation told Bedell that they had a meeting Friday afternoon to discuss the I-75 project and they confirmed the agency is now making changes there, including adding signage and requesting “heightened enforcement” from police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Their biggest concern, just like Moraine police, is drivers speeding through the construction zone.

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