GREENE COUNTY — U.S. 35 in Greene County has had many car crashes and now a plan is in the works to make it safer. The project is supposed to improve the safety and congestion problems at the U.S. 35 and Trebien Road interchange, according to the Greene County Engineer.
News Center 7 spoke with someone who could have benefited from the interchange being safer Thursday.
Johnny Shingleton, of New Carlisle, remembers being stopped at the traffic light at the Trebein Road exit in 2016, but that’s the last thing he remembers. He was hit from behind by a semi-truck while sitting at the red light.
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“I died twice,” Shingleton said. “They brought me back.”
He told News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott that he’s had to overcome several injuries.
“[I] had 64 pints of blood put in me, two collapsed lungs, a head injury and a broken back,” he recounted.
A year later, Shingleton said this almost happened again.
“I’m watching the rearview mirror [and saw] this semi coming down the road. I told my wife, I said, ‘He’s not gonna stop.’ So I had to go off the side of the road to avoid wreck,” he said.
A release from the engineer’s office showed that there have been more than 200 accidents over the course of five years. Around 64 percent of them resulted in an injury.
News Center 7 told Shingleton about the plans to make the interchange safer. He said he wants a particular safety measure put back in place.
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“There used to be a sign out there that said, ‘Caution, red light when this is blinking stop.’ That seemed to help quite a bit,” Shingleton said.
He also said would like to see the stoplights disappear altogether. He suggested building a bridge that would keep traffic going east and west from coming into contact with traffic going north and south.
He added that he’s looking forward to the improvements.
“I would just like to see the problem fix so no more people get hurt or killed,” he said.
The Ohio Department of Transportation and county engineer will be announcing all the safety measures that will be added on March 13.