‘Like a racetrack;’ Neighbors ready for change amid decade-long safety improvement project

DAYTON — A decade-long project to improve safety on one of Dayton’s most dangerous and deadly roads is about to move into high gear.

As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, the City of Dayton has been conducting safety studies on North Main Street, or State Route 48, between Great Miami Boulevard North to Shoup Mill Road since 2011.

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Narrow lanes, speeding vehicles, and illegal pedestrian crossings have resulted in more injuries and fatal crashes.

Marty and Todd Aniballi live on North Main Street and said the planned safety improvements are necessary.

“Ridiculous speeding, like a racetrack,” Marty said.

North Main Street has two lanes in each direction, but no left turn lane.

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Drivers are often seen weaving around vehicles waiting to turn left.

News Center 7′s Mike Campbell asked one driver about their experiences on the roadway.

“They pull out, they drive real fast, then slow down and turn, they could have waited,” they said.

A spokesperson from the city said from 2011 to 2017, there had been an increase in crashes on North Main Street.

There were 900 crashes between 2015 to 2017. Seven of those crashes were fatal, the spokesperson said.

“One is too many, seven in a three-year period is completely unacceptable,” Dayton Chief Civil Engineer Joe Weinel said.

A study between 2017 to 2019 found an additional seven fatal pedestrian crashes occurred.

Weinel said this study jump-started the safety improvement plans on North Main Street.

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The street will be reconstructed to have one wide lane in each direction and a dedicated left turn lane.

“It’ll be a much more comfortable ride and with three lanes it will slow things down,” Weinel said.

“Could work out well, anything has to be better than the status quo,” Todd said.

City leaders said the roadwork should begin mid-July and will be done next summer.

We will continue to follow this story.

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