MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Look for extra state troopers along the I-75 corridor through downtown Dayton beginning [today] July 3 through July 7 as one of the areas across the state to receive focused attention in an effort to keep drivers safe during the holiday.
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“It’s fast, and you better get out of the way kind of thing,” Brian Schipper, Asheville, North Carolina, told News Center 7 on Wednesday.
The Troy native was headed back to North Carolina after visiting the Miami Valley.
“It’s congestion,” he said. “And it’s not a lot of people paying attention anymore. It’s quite dangerous, I would say.”
Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers have been working to make the stretch of interstate safer -- from the northern end of Montgomery County near Dayton and Harrison Township, to the southern end of Montgomery County through Moraine and West Carrollton.
Troopers said they haven’t seen seeing as many crashes in the southern zone, which has been in place longer than the northern zone, where they continue to see a lot of wrecks.
“It’s going to take a while for people to adjust their daily driving patterns and driving behavior,” state patrol Lt. Dallas Root said.
Root said he thinks the more numerous incidents of crashes may be the result of changes in the traffic pattern.
“I think it’s typical to see a lot of crashes in the beginning,” he said.
“We saw that in the southern zone, and now we’re starting to see that same pattern in the northern zone. Hopefully over the next couple months, people will get used to the new pattern change and we’ll start to see the crash picture start to reduce.”
Talks are continuing between the Ohio Department of Transportation and the state patrol about potential changes to make the work zones safer, the lieutenant said. Some of the ideas discussed include extra signage, variable speed limits and the installation of rumble strips.
Last month, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the statewide initiative aimed at cutting down on wrecks in roadway construction zones. The I-75 work zone through Montgomery County is No. 2 on a list of 10 locations the governor’s office is calling “priority enforcement zones.”
The initiative includes grant money for overtime pay, which is allowing troopers to dedicate more time to focus on enforcement in two construction zones in I-75 in Montgomery County.
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