‘It’s wild;’ Residents, business owners share concerns about speeding on busy Dayton road

DAYTON — People say there is a problem in their neighborhood and it keeps getting worse.

A speed camera at Park Drive and Wayne Avenue between March and June has caught more than 20,000 drivers speeding, according to a local traffic collation.

Many voiced their concerns Wednesday night to the Dayton City Commission about a speeding problem on Wayne Avenue.

Jill Davis showed up at Wednesday’s meeting to share what she went through.

“I’m here as someone who survived a serious traffic accident at Wayne and Clover last March. That day, there were so many people speeding, so many people on the street and so many speeding cars that morning,” Davis said.

The owner of Ghoslight Coffee in the area also spoke.

“The businesses can’t thrive with that kind of traffic going up and down the street,” Mark Manovich said.

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The Wayne Avenue Traffic Safety Coalition wants the city to redesign Wayne from Wyoming Street to U.S. 35.

“I think anyone that’s driven on Wayne can use the same description I would. It’s, it’s wild,” Willie Morris said.

The coalition wants to reduce the speed limit to 25 miles per hour, make Wayne two narrow drive lanes with a center turned lane and add two bike lanes.

“Our hope is that we can build away an avenue that serves the residents of Dayton and not just through traffic, so we want to see it become more walkable, more bikeable for all people,” Laura Estandia said.

The mayor said he plans to meet with the coalition and shared what the city’s done so far.

“It’s a very congested area. We did put speed cameras there to address some of those concerns that were raised by citizens, as well as painting lanes to make it a bit safer. So clearly, there seem to be some other things that need to be done. And we’ll certainly take a look at that.” Mayor Jeffrey Mims said.

The city proposed widening Wayne Avenue, that project is expected to start in the spring and last 18 months.

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