February 09, 2021 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thanks for that additional information. Yeah. So, um, w w what we have right now of course, is existing traffic signal. And when you compare the signals to around about, um, which I think Kevin talked about this in his presentation, or roundabout actually is designed for, um, is it the WB 62 trucks? And it actually is far more efficient at moving traffic. So the queuing that you would see now with the traffic signals is actually the signal is less efficient than the roundabout would be. So the roundabout is actually able to handle more traffic and push more traffic through there than you currently see today. Um, and again, I think, you know, a reconfiguration of the interchange to, to try to keep everybody doing the right turn. Um, if it's something that's not off the table, that's more a future project. If we can justify the cost, but around about, um, putting the two roundabouts in is, is a solution that we are able to afford and is feasible to install, and it actually will improve the traffic flow from, from where it is today.
Yeah. And just to add on this is Kevin Carpenter again, just to add on to what Patricia said, uh, our, our firm did do some traffic analysis, uh, of this interchange, uh, looking at, uh, we use, uh, horizon year or a design year, that's 20 years in the future. Uh, and so as Matt talked about in his presentation, uh, this area is expected to grow. They had a growth rate applied to this corridor. Um, so we utilized a growth rate, uh, pretty substantial growth rate, uh, for this area. Uh, and so we were looking at, uh, higher traffic volumes 20 years from now, and, and using the software that we analyze these things with, uh, it still showed a level of service that was acceptable, uh, even in, in the future. Um, so, you know, we feel like this is the right solution based on the safety. Um, you know, as far as the truck drivers go, and I know making any kind of turn is, is difficult. Uh, but you know, these are with a truck apron, uh, so that you can spill over outside the pavement. Um, and we do have additional areas, uh, for future developments. So we have, there is even more traffic than we're customizing. There is room to expand these and have dedicated turn lanes, as you suggested. Um, so all that has been kind of built into the project.
I had some questions that came in his comments, um, Greg Lance, and can you help me out with those? Yeah, we've had quite a few, uh, comments that have been written and submitted the first one. I'm not sure who it's from, uh, does not have a name, but the comment is I represent the operator of a shopping center near the intersection, which is concerned that this project will lead to more accidents. Please address this. Thanks.
Okay. Thanks for reading that, Greg. Um, so I, I do think that it's not an uncommon concern, um, from the public to, to be a little bit fearful of roundabout. It's something, um, that still evolving and is, is new maybe to this area. Um, but there have been a lot of roundabouts installed, um, around the world and, and especially in the United States where, um, there's been an opportunity to have a lot of data behind this research that actually shows significant safety improvement. So I know Kevin, you mentioned it in your presentation, but, um, some of the studies show that, um, the, the crash reduction is around 50%. So cutting the, the crashes in half overall crashes and really where we gained the biggest safety benefit is in the reduction of the injury and fatal crashes. And the statistics show a reduction of, uh, uh, what was the percentage that 75% I think of reduction in, um, injury and fatal crashes, and that has a significant safety improvement. So we very much expect that, um, changing from, uh, an existing traffic signal to around about, to significantly improve the safety at these two intersections. Kevin, do you have anything to add to that? Yeah, you're, you're correct. Patricia and I brought this slide back up, because again, I wanted to highlight, um, you know, the, the, the open circles you see here, uh, in the middle of the signalized intersection are those turning movements, uh, where you can get a, you know, a T-bone accident or a head-on accident. And those tend to be,
Uh, the more severe or critical or fatal injury accidents. Those are eliminated with a roundabout, cause obviously everybody's going through and just turning to the right. Um, so it's a much safer operation from a, from a driver's standpoint as well, because you only have to look one direction, right? So as you're approaching the roundabout, you're gonna look to the left. If there's somebody coming, you wait for a gap and then you go, uh, and then you exit wherever you're going to go. Um, so it's a much safer operation, obviously we're slowing speeds down. So everybody that's coming into the roundabout, we'll be going, you know, between 20 and 25 miles an hour as they approach the roundabout. Uh, so we're, we're talking about much slower speeds than even in the signal ice situation where traffic's going up to 35 miles an hour, all along this corridor.
Um, so, you know, we provide some geometry as we approach the roundabout, and I'll bring this up again. So you can see we've got some, some curvature as you, as we approach to kind of push the cars, slowing down and push them and have them in the right direction as they approached the roundabout. Um, so again, just to reiterate the, the, the studies show that, you know, traffic accidents, the crashes happen at a, at a far reduced, uh, standpoint. And then also the crashes that do occur are much less severe because typically it's a sideswipe, uh, where a car is coming into the roundabout and this car will, will glance off it, you know, as it, as they collide here. So it's definitely a much safer operation. And then, you know, I also talked about, you know, for the shopping center, you know, it's important to get these pedestrians, uh, sorry. It keeps flip flipping forward on me, uh, to get these pedestrians from, from the city over to the shopping area. So the addition of the sidewalk is, you know, obviously a good benefit of the project, but again, the pedestrians are only crossing one direction of travel. So again, it's a much safer for even the pedestrians as well. Now they're not crossing two lanes of traffic. Again, they're only crossing one lane of traffic. Um, so they only have to look one direction. So it's safer for both pedestrians and vehicular traffic.
Thank you, Patricia. Kevin, the next comment is from Chad Walden and it says, will traffic be closed for an extended period of time on state, route 93 park Avenue? The grocery store and shopping center is on the other side of 52 and would be cut off from town. If that happens, everything on the Hill could potentially go out of business, which would hurt the residents of Ironton and could cost the area of much needed jobs.
Um, so where we're at in project development with this is that we actually haven't started the detailed design process, um, for it. So we've had some preliminary discussion about how traffic will be maintained during the construction of this project, but it hasn't been detailed out Jessie yet. Um, anytime that we look at a project like this and this sites, we strategically plan our construction to try very hard to ablate closures. Um, we're hopeful that we won't have publishers on state route 93 during the construction that we can phase the construction of the roundabouts still, that we wouldn't have closures for 93. Um, we do anticipate that we might have them short duration closures for the ramp, um, on 52. And again, um, that would be, um, planned strategically to minimize that impact to the traveling public as much as possible. And we will be looking at that in a lot of detail with the next phase of the project.
Um, so Kevin, um, I don't know if you have anything you want to add to that. Yeah. Uh, thanks for sharing. Yeah, I would just add, so looking at this, uh, schematic here, you can see all the green. So again, the green is existing pavement. That's going to be removed. So we actually have a surplus of pavement. Uh, and again, as Patricia indicated, detailed audit design has not been completed yet. So I'm just kind of spit balling here, but we feel from a, from a schematic perspective, that's maintaining a minimum of one lane in each direction along state, route 93, uh, will be, uh, able to be done during construction, um, because of the way that the roundabout connection is being made between the two intersections. Um, you can see there, there is a surplus of existing pavement there, so we can, we can push existing traffic to say the westbound side while we build the eastbound side and then flip the traffic, uh, and build the other side, uh, while we're maintaining on the opposite. Um, so, so we feel pretty confident that the project along state route 93 can be constructed, uh, while maintaining traffic, uh, as Patricia indicated, these ramps will probably require some short closures to, to build these tie-ins. Um, but again, there are, there are, uh,
Interchanges in relative close proximity to this one, so that shouldn't be too impactful. Uh, and again, those would, those would be relatively short closures, and I would anticipate the plans would specify how long those would be closed. And obviously that the stakeholders would be, would be notified of those closures when they're going to happen and how long they were going to be.
Awesome. Thank you again, Patricia and Kevin. Uh, the next comment is from Nate Kline, iron city council. And this is kind of a two part, um, some of which Kevin has already, uh, talked about a little bit with the pedestrians, but, uh, the first part is, do you anticipate increased traffic inside the city limits during construction? I have heard concerns about safety due to increase traffic in residential areas. Is there a plan to be proactive in addressing this?
Thanks, Nate. That's a, that's a great question. Um, so with, if we're able to maintain traffic on 93, um, I think that you would not see much of an increase of traffic, um, through town, um, maybe slightly, but I wouldn't expect much. Um, I think that that one factor is going to play a big role in, um, if we're diverting traffic through town, I think if we needed to close state route 93, I think then you probably would see some diversion in traffic. And, um, it's a great question and something that we will look at in more detail during design phase, we always look if we have to do a closure, um, where that traffic will go and try to, um, look ahead as far as if there's any changes we might need to do to, um, traffic control along that loop local detour. Um, so that is something that gets looked at with detailed design. Um, it's, it's a great question.
And the next part of his question was, uh, safety concerns for pedestrians crossing park Avenue has increased due to increase traffic. Would ODAT consider partnering with the city to improve crossing, including specifically tunnel underneath park Avenue, state, route 93, between ninth street and the eastbound interchange.
So, um, the, the concept of the tunnel, um, I, I am a little bit familiar with, um, had some discussion, um, on that idea. And, um, I, from what I remember of the conversation in the meeting, I was at that, I didn't think that there was enough funding for the tunnel. And so we were planning to put our sidewalk through the project limits on as shown in orange
On, on this, and, you know, maybe somewhere. So I don't know if you want to have additional information on that, the status and the tunnel. Uh, sure. Thanks, Patricia. Um, so I know, and Kevin, maybe you can join into we're kind of tag team and all these answers share. But, uh, my understanding is that at carpenter, Marty had, um, at the request of the city, looked at a possible tunnel in that location that, that was mentioned in the comment and that, uh, the cost came in pretty high. So, uh, we had been asked, uh, with the city to take a look at, uh, possibly a traffic signal at eighth street, uh, with the pedestrian crossing down there, uh, with the thought that some of the development that's going on, uh, just East of a nice street there, uh, that the most of the traffic would move down the eighth street and then provide an opportunity, uh, to have a crossing, a safer safe crossing in that location. So, uh, we were working with the city to, uh, provide a application for safety funding, uh, to, to ODAT in the, in the near future. So then it would be, um, I guess, uh, the city would need to work with, uh, without add on, um, trying to find funding to provide that crossing.
Okay. Thank you guys for that information. I'm going to jump back over. We have another voicemail question, play that now. Yeah. My name is Sammy and, um, I don't, uh, want to, uh, dispute anything is, is you're saying or anything like that, but having been an active, uh, participant or, uh, playing a factor of role in the irons and heals Plaza, I have not witnessed crashes to this magnitude over a period of, uh, 22 years. Um, I mean, I, I do notice some things there that, you know, obviously there's room for improvement in any situation, but I just haven't seen this and I'm not, again, I'm not doubting your, your statistics. I just being there almost every day. I haven't seen, but maybe very few crashes. Thank you. Thank you for that message color. So I, uh, this is Kevin Carpenter. So I pulled the, uh, the crash diagram
That we developed as part of our feasibility study. Uh, and again, this represents, uh, crashes between 2013 and 2017. Um, so there were 64 crashes within the intersection area, the interchange area, um, as you can see from this diagram, most of the crashes are actually South of the bridges. So it's possible that, you know, the, the mall is, is, is North here, uh, off the picture. Um, so it's possible that many of these crashes you couldn't see. Um, so while you did see some crashes up here at the, at the northerly interchange, uh, you could see the one South of the bridges. Um, so it is a substantial number, uh, as, as I indicated in my presentation, it's, it's more than twice the state of average for a similar interchange. Um, this location was on the governor's top 150 intersection list, uh, for 2019. Uh, and this interchange was also the 45th, uh, for suburban interchange locations in the state. So it is a substantial number of, uh, accidents occurring at this interchange. Um, so that's why the project was, you know, why we looked at it,
I was just going to add this as Patricia. I was just going to add that, you know, um, crashes that are shown on this, um, diagram, all are generated from, you know, police reports or highway patrol reports or from the sheriff when they fill these out. So, you know, if a crash happens and it doesn't get reported, then it doesn't show up in our system. So this does account for, um, the crashes that were, were actually reported that were filed with, um, in our system. And, you know, it gets generated through a database. And so they all come from actual, um, police reports from each accident.
Very good. Thank you, Patricia. Uh, the next comment is from James Norris and he says, I would not call this an improvement. The one in South point has proven that for 98% of the vehicles that must use it, the lick Creek County road one, us 52 intersection has to be a higher priority than this project, um, of the 2 million plus dollars be spent on that instead, or maybe spent on dedicated law enforcement officers for these intersections.
So I can see too, um, you know, how, how ODA makes decisions on where to allocate funds. Um, you know, through the years, ODA has looked at crash data in so many different ways and these priority lists that are generated from this crash data. Um, there are lots of different ways you can look at it, for example, you can, um, prioritize your locations by, um, the number of fatal or serious injury crashes that you're having. Or you can look at crash data and come up with a priority set based on locations that have the most potential to see, um, improvements, um, or you could look at them and prioritize them based on how they compare to other similar sites. And so, um, what central office does for us at the district level is they compile all that crash data and they review it and give us priority lists based on these different ways of prioritization.
And so, um, this particular location was identified, um, because of the crash history and it was identified on, um, the governor's one 50 top one 50 lists. So basically the governor identified intersections as a very high priority because they see a lot of, um, high severity crashes at intersections. And so this one was actually identified on that list because of the crash. It's very, so it's not just by chance that we picked this one over another location. It's that, that's what the data told us. So that's why this location, um, is, is giving this, um, project. Um, and it doesn't mean that we're not always looking at other locations as well. Um, but we do kind of use that data to help us prioritize because there are so many locations that, um, could benefit from a construction project, but we use that data to help us prioritize where to spend it.
That, Kevin. Yeah, there, there, there, I can't unfortunately zoom in on this one. Um, yeah, so the existing third lane there, and, and I'm looking at a secondary device here to make sure I'm understanding the existing conditions. Um, yeah, so basically what's going to happen South of, of the southerly roundabout here is, you know, we have this, this area here is concrete, so it's a medium to separate the two lanes of traffic, uh, as we come out of the southerly roundabout, uh, we basically tied back to existing payment before ninth. Um, so South of this location right here, as we go off the map, uh, to the left, uh, basically it batches existing conditions. Um, so there's really no change, uh, to the payment South of this location. Uh, so it should be pretty, pretty much the same as existing. Yeah. I think that the question I bet is where those transverse lines are shown.
I think currently that is, um, strapped at a left turn lane. It's kind of hard to see there, but yeah, I would agree with Kevin that, um, I know it's hard to see on this drawing, but that, that concrete Island stopped, um yep. Right there. So that existing left turn lane I would say would not be changed. Yeah. And, and just to reiterate, so as you come southbound here, this, this taper could change and, and open up into two lanes. You have a dedicated, left and a three lane as you have today. So that'll be taken into consideration during detailed design, but the attempt will be to, to match the existing conditions approaching ninth Avenue and ninth street. Yup. Good question.
It's displayed here. Thank you all for that. The next comment is from J D uh, says, I think this is a good idea. The sidewalk is a much needed addition to this area. Pedestrians always run the risk of getting hit in this area. I think this is the most cost effective solution to help the traffic in this area. So positive, positive feedback there, not really a question.
And it looks like we've got one more written that is from Shanna. Elswick says good evening. I am a long time resident of Ironton and the GM of the Marriott TownePlace suites currently under construction on ninth street, right off park Avenue, near the intersections. We are extremely concerned about the shutdown of the exit ramps, interfering with our business as well as possible. Utility disruptions with hotels full of guests. Utility disruptions will certainly not be well-received. I certainly would not call this an improvement, but an opportunity for more accidents not to mention being cut off from the highway for a new business is not ideal. I actually traveled this strip every day to and from work and various other times of day, I very rarely see accidents here. How long would the project take from start to finish? The real traffic issue is trying to enter park Avenue from ninth street. Can you please address these issues? I'm all for sidewalks though. I think that's a great idea. Let me know if anybody wants me to repeat any part of that. Okay.
Yep. Uh, treasure. I don't know if you want me to jump on that one first or if you want to say something. So obviously, you know, I mentioned it briefly in my presentation, there, there are some potential utility conflicts. Um, so there is no sanitary or waterline, uh, anticipated to be impacted by this project, which is a good thing. Right. Um, so the two that we see at this stage, um, prescriptive design is we saw that there, there is a Columbia gas line out there and there's some overhead electrical lines out there. Typically those, uh, conflicts are worked out during the design process. And the intent obviously is not to disrupt, uh, any utilities for any users. Um, so we would work with the utility companies to coordinate any kind of relocation we needed to do to make any disruption of service, uh, an absolute minimum. Um, but on a project like this, I don't really see much utility impact. Um, so for a user like a hotel, I don't think that would be a big deal. Uh, again, we did mention for main some traffic, uh, stair out 93 will, will likely remain open throughout the, the construction of the project. Uh, there will be some temporary closures of the ramps I would envision, but I would anticipate those being probably 30 days. And again, the project will limit
The contractor on how long he's allowed to close any ramps. Um, that's what obviously be coordinated with all the stakeholders and, and advertise, and you would know about it. Um, or I can talk to that better than I can. Um, but we would obviously try and minimize that to the extent possible during the design process. Uh, so I don't envision it being a huge impactful project. I think this would probably be done in one construction season. Um, so you're probably looking at again, I mentioned the summer it's scheduled currently for the summer of 23, I believe. Um, so you're probably looking at that summer, the project would be constructed, um, and you know, it would probably be starting the spring and be over in the fall. So it would be, you know, 120 days at the most I would envision. Um, so it would be a burden during construction as all construction projects are, but again, we're trying to make it that amount of improvement here to make it better. Um, so Patricia, I don't know if you have anything to piggyback piggyback off of what I'm saying, but that's, that's my initial thoughts on that.
Yeah. Thanks Kevin. I feel like you've covered it well. And, um, you know, I, I understand that concern very well, anytime that we do a train transportation project and when we're out there doing construction, um, during construction yeah. It's um, there is some give and take to get the improvement and the reduced crashes and improve the safety. Then we do have to get in there and do the work. And sometimes that surely, um, is an inconvenience and understand your concern and appreciate to hear your feedback. Um, we, we do spend a lot of time and energy when we're designing these projects to try and get creative on ways to construct them to minimize that impact and closure time. Um, so I can tell you that that will definitely happen with this project. Um, and unfortunately, sometimes it's just, um, during that construction time, those inconveniences are, are apart of building and construction project. So, but, um, appreciate the feedback. Um, just one of the things to point out on that, um, is that the, the ramp closures that we keep referring to would likely just be one at a time. So they wouldn't all be closed at the same time. So we would try to maintain as much of that access as possible. All right. We have another voicemail question. We'll play that now.
Yes. My name is Cheryl. I have been driving to Ironton on 93 to the Plaza from Huntington West Virginia for 22. I have not seen the magnitude of these accidents are all talking about. Um, I would like to ask where do you get the information for the accidents and also, um, I have a huge stake in the and Hills Plaza. I do not want anything to slow down traffic. I think this is going to be a huge mistake. Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Cheryl, for the message. Um, I'll take you back on some of the information that's already been shared. Uh, the, the crash data that we use to inform the study for this project, we get that directly from the state highway patrol, uh, from 40 crashes. So if anything, you know, minor fender benders where law enforcement isn't called, uh, it would actually mean that we're dealing with an under-reported number of crashes rather than an over. Um, we do understand, uh, I'll, I'll fill in this about roundabouts, cause we've, we've experienced this in other locations where roundabouts have been proposed there, there usually is some reluctance from the public because they are still, while we've seen a lot more than be installed in the last five to 10 years, they are still a comparatively new road feature. Not all drivers have had experience with them. It does mean learning and adapting to, uh, to a new roadway feature. Um, and that's something that we definitely keep in mind when we carry these kinds of projects forward. So we do have educational materials, other forms of public outreach that we'll be doing as this project progresses to kind of help inform people.
I don't know if anyone else has anything they want to piggyback on that and go ahead and add, um, concerning the roundabouts. We, I was a project manager on a project where we put door roundabouts in a rural corridor up in Ross County. Um, and we had a lot of resistance to those roundabouts up there, just North of coffee. And people were concerned that, um, there would be more accidents and people were concerned that that traffic would be worse. And now that they've been open and working, uh, we opened those back in the fall of last year. Um, the comments that we see now are that everyone loves them, that there hasn't been any accidents. Uh, traffic is flowing very well through those roundabouts. And so I just, like Matt said, there's some apprehension, there's some, you know, there's some misunderstanding about, um, how they work, but once people get used to them and drive them daily, they tend to love them.
Thanks, Chris. That's great. Great additional points, Greg, do we have any additional written comments? No, nothing, nothing additional. Okay. I'm double checking on the phone queue at this time. I am not seeing anyone waiting to be called on to speak. I do not see any additional voicemail messages waiting to be played. So at this time, I think we are going to go ahead and we'll discuss, uh, other other methods that are available to you to provide us with your feedback. Uh, if for any reason you decided not to participate during the live meeting tonight, uh, you do still have mechanisms available to you that you can share your feedback with us. Uh, in the coming days, concepts are going to be reviewed and considered by the project team, and we'll be sharing some of those comments and responses. That'll be posted to the project website, along with all the meeting materials that were shared tonight for, for you to review on your own time.
Uh, we'll also, again, this meeting was recorded, so we'll be posting a copy of the meeting. So if you have friends, relatives, um, neighbors who weren't able to attend, it would be interested in seeing what was discussed as part of the meetings and that'll be available as well. If you found it difficult to participate in this meeting at all, or if you have those additional questions or comments, please reach out to one of the following lessons methods you can visit the ODAT project webpage at transportation, ohio.gov, and search for the project identification number, which is one, one, one, four eight, seven. Uh, you can also still send us your comments by text, by texting you four seven, six to seven three two two four. You can also email district nine public information office@dzeroninedotpioatdotdotohio.gov. You can call the district nine mint public information office at (740) 774-8834. Or you can write us a letter, mail your comments, the old fashioned way, send them to the public information office at ODAT at Ohio department of transportation, district nine PO box four six seven <inaudible> four five six Oh one. Uh, this concludes our meeting for this evening on behalf of ODA district nine and Kiowa our presenters, our project team. We all want to say thank you again. We appreciate everyone taking time from their busy schedule to join us this evening. Please enjoy the rest of your day.
To that being in the basement, Patricia and everyone. I'm still at the office. And I locked myself in the Worthington conference room cause it's right next to my office. And it had the nice little logo for my little bit of onscreen time. Right? As we were diving down the path, right, as we were diving into the comments, the cleaning people kept trying to,
I don't know if I were to aspire to be like burning a whole lot of sarcasm there. The meeting went well. I actually thought the questions we got and the feedback we got. I mean, I know it was kind of negative one round about that. I think we all expected that. And I, I thought the feedback and questions were reasonable. Yeah.
Trying to remember that lady's name. That was, um, the lady at the hotel. Yeah. I can't remember her name. Yeah. I already closed that other window. <inaudible> I wrote S H a N a. She, her name was in there. So I'll see if we can find it somewhere. Do you remember Shannon, Shannon or Shana or something? Shannon Elswick yes. I knew I would find it. And then Chad Walden was the, he was the one that said something about the grocery store and shopping center on the other side of 52 being cut off by town. So I, I kind of assumed he was a business owner to Steve hunt. He's got all kinds of ideas than me, like those roundabouts. So they, I was trying to understand what he was, um, suggesting. Um, I assumed it was some ramp reconfiguration, so I just kinda went with ag. Do you guys think that he wanted, he wanted like full Clover?
Yeah. I guess systems interchange would be nice but expensive. Yeah. Good luck. Tell him it's next in line. After the, after the Chesapeake bypass district nine people, you kill me. Uh, all right. Well, I will edit the video tonight, so it's probably going to be tomorrow before it gets posted back onto the website. I always take it down and then post it after I clean it up because it captures our pre-meeting stuff. So I don't want to post that out there. So if you guys have any business, you need to take care of, go for it. Otherwise we're done. And I thought everybody did awesome. Well, you're going to have a, you're going to have transcripts. And, um, is there any chance you were counting, um, number of participants? Yes. And I did some screen captures too. Yeah. Oh, shoot my way. I'm happy to put that together. You guys great job. It was actually much fun to sit back and watch
So as soon as the meeting's over, um, public input does automatically generate a transcript. It's just, you may have to clean it up because you can see the transcribing is not perfect. Right? Right. So we'll get, we'll get two different versions. We'll get one from YouTube that a copy and paste from there. And then we'll get the one from public input and I'll just share both with you and you can do with it what you will or make Nicole do it. Yeah.
Welcome to WebEx. Enter your access code or meeting number followed by pound. Enter your attendee ID or the numeric meeting password followed by pound. All right, hello and welcome everyone. Uh, we're going to go ahead and get this meeting underway and it's now five o'clock. Uh, welcome to the Ohio department of transportation's public meeting for the U S 52 state, route 93 interchange improvement project and the Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia interstate planning commission that are known as Caiola's us 52 and state route seven corridor improvement project. Thank you again for joining us. My name is Matt McGuire. I am the public information officer for ODAT district nine. I will be serving as the moderator for this meeting. So conducting virtual meetings is still a little new to us. I would like to thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as we go through our presentations this evening, uh, we will try to make this as easy and seamless as possible, but we may hit a couple of bumps as we go along.
Uh, we appreciate any feedback you have about how to improve this experience in the future. So before we get started, I'd like to go over a few housekeeping items so that everyone will know how to participate and for your information, all the information that we're about to discuss and be found in the meeting participant guide on the project website. So at this time, audio for the audience has been muted that's to ensure everyone can hear us by eliminating background noise participants will be provided an opportunity to speak during the Q and a session that will immediately follow the presentations. If you are having trouble hearing us, or if you were hearing a lot of static garbled speed, we suggest that you change your audio connection. So for instance, if you're connected through your computer, you want to change to your phone. Please keep in mind that there is a slight delay.
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So to provide a fair and orderly section of project information and expression of comments, we have some ground rules for this meeting also available in the meeting participant guide. I'm not going to read the entire list, but I would like to touch on a few highlights. First, this meeting is being recorded. All comments are considered public record. Please keep comments and concerns as specific as possible and relevant to the projects being discussed. Speakers will be limited to two minutes that other participants an opportunity to speak. Uh, if we don't have any additional speakers, then participants may be granted up to an additional two minutes.
Uh, finally we know this goes without saying, but we ask that everyone, please be respectful. Uh, no demeaning derogatory, inflammatory or vulgar language or actions will be permitted. Uh, any such actions may result in attendees being removed from the meeting. So our agenda for this evening, first, we're going to be introducing the product team and then we'll be going through the two presentations. And then lastly, the live questions, turn, answer, question, and answer. Segment participants will be able to interact with project team during this meeting, using the following options. Uh, you can type your comments in the chat box on the right side of the screen at any time during the meeting, just type your message in the box and then click on the comment button to submit. You can also text you four seven, six to seven three two two four. You will receive an automatic response confirming that you have the correct meeting. Then you may type your comment and send it. You may also call (855) 925-2801 and enter meeting code eight two zero five. Then follow the prompts to enter the speaker queue or leave a voicemail message that will be played for everyone to hear. Again, there is a delay between the online video and the sound that you'll hear on the phone, which will cause an echo. So you want to please turn your computer volume down. When speaking to the project,
We'll provide this information again at the start of the Q and a session in case anyone missed it, or we had late arrivals, all comments carry equal weight, no matter how they're submitted, even those comments before or after meeting, we understand this is new. Sometimes questions or comments will come in, partially typed her on accident. We are patient. Uh, so don't worry about that. There are also traditional methods for submitting comments after the meeting, which we will also go over later. So this time we're going to go ahead and introduce our project team and subject matter experts.
A horse with HDR. I'll be presenting the S 52 and state route seven safety corridor management study tonight. Good evening. My name is Kevin Carpenter. I'm a principal with carpenter, Vernie transportation. Uh, we did a feasibility study, uh, on the, uh, U S 52 and state around 93 interchange. And I'll be presenting on that. Hello, my name is Patricia <inaudible> and I work for the Ohio department of transportation and I am the planning engineer. Hello, my name is Corey Cotrell. Um, worked for ODAT district nine and I'm the project manager
My apologies. Good evening, everyone. Um, my name is Chris Primor. I'm the district nine capital program administrator for ODAT tonight, helping to answer some questions and, and supporting the team here. Okay, so this time we're going to turn things over to Patricia Wessel to kind of give us an overview of the two presentations. Thank you, Matt, with Matt, Sam. My name is Patricia <inaudible> and I'm the planning engineer for ODAT district nine. As you probably know, we are here today to talk about two projects. The first project is sponsored by the metropolitan planning organization, and it's a corridor improvement project for us 52 and state route seven. This project will be presented by Matt self-worth with HDR. The second project is sponsored by ODI and it's an interchange improvement project at USA 52 and state route 93. This project will be presented by Kevin Carpenter with carpenter Marty design firm. Since the interchange project is located within the project limits of the corridor project that you projects were combined into this one public meeting. I will now turn it over to Matt Selborne to begin the project presentations. Thanks, Patricia. Uh, again, um, my name is Matt <inaudible> with ACR engineering and I'm presenting the U S 52 and state route seven safety corridor management study plan. I'm
Going to turn my video off here to, to help the speed of the presentation today. Um, so this study covers us 50 to stay route seven, kind of red one and kind of re route seven, uh, throughout Lawrence County. The outcome of this study is going to be a plan for future improvements and implementation of projects to address traffic problems in the corridors. This presentation shows the overall approach to the study and the analysis that's been conducted to date is summary of the information is also included on a two page handout that is on the Kiowa website. The purpose of this study is to update traffic crash and geometric information from a previous 2007 study and identify any deficiencies and needs that have been not addressed to date. The study includes stakeholder and public involvement, uh, land use analysis, scenario planning to evaluate future traffic demands, document existing and future conditions analyze needs and provide recommendations for implementation of solutions. Uh, the work also includes an analysis of the pavement within the city of Ironton.
So tonight and presenting the existing and future conditions analysis that's been conducted today, the reporting builds on the previous studies and includes identifications of the corridors, travel characteristics, traffic, reliability, and safety, as well as other problems. This includes travel time speeds, volumes, crash analysis, capacity analysis, and geometric deficiencies. I'll be showing some maps that highlights this information throughout the County. So the analysis of the previous plan developed in 2007 included a review of the recommended improvements. So presented on the map shows the status of these recommendations. The project set in green are ones that have been completed in yellow is partial completion. Blue are those that are under current project development or study and red are, those have had no progress since 2007 of the 27 recommendations for being completed. Two have been partially completed. Nine have had some development process and 12 have had no progress. This analysis is used to help focus on the areas that need some additional study and to help us determine a prioritization and implementation plan for the future.
The analysis of the corridor documented the existing aggregate intersection and driveways as a way. So identified locations that could be potentially improved to create a limited access freeway. And the Western end of the County, there are currently 21 intersections from the Western County line, uh, through to Chesapeake. And then there are 38 intersections and 215 private drives from, from Chesapeake over to the Eastern County line of Lawrence County. Travel time. Reliability was calculated for the corridor using mobile data over a period of time to determine the reliability of having the same travel time at any given day. The number closest to one shown the map means to have the same travel time every single day. The color of yellow is the closest to one. A darker color has a less expect expected travel time areas that have a less reliable travel time on the corridor are areas around the Aslan bridge, uh, around Delta and grand view avenues and around the Burlington Macedonian Charlie Creek road road areas, as well as over in Proctorville area.
The traffic analysis includes evaluating existing traffic counts and the forecast of traffic volumes to the year 2050. This map shows traffic volumes and annual growth rates for some key locations along the corridor. The annual growth rate is shown for growth to the year 2050 arrange the projected annual daily traffic or ADTs as shown on the map, use the current, uh, growth rates as well as an expanded growth rate. The growth rate and ADTs were expanded based on two scenarios. The first scenario was the inclusion of the new Ohio river crossing to the East of Huntington, this new river crossings projected to slightly increase annual growth rate on the Western end of the County, but double the growth rate on the Eastern end of the County. The second scenario includes tripling the rate of growth and anticipation of possible growth from the opening of the Portsmouth bypass in December of 2018, the traffic count on us. 52, just West of Lawrence County has shown that there has been a large percentage of increase since the bypass open. So the upper end of these ADT ranges will be used to develop improvements.
Fresh analysis was conducted today at identifying areas where the most crisis have occurred in those locations where crisis have been severe. Many of the areas shown on the map are areas that are well-known as safety problems and are currently being addressed with some project development, such as the Burlington, Macedonia, Charlie Creek, and the Chesapeake areas, the rest of those areas where we're directly, uh, we'll direct our study team to develop some solutions to address any problems. That's highway safety improvement program identifies locations across the state, that areas of the state that have safety concerns due to crisis. And this analysis is similar to a similar pattern shown from the crash analysis map. So some of the well-known problems, again are the County road, one Delta and grand VR areas, the Burlington Macedonia and the Charlie Creek areas further analysis has been done to identify locations along 52, where the interchange entrance and exit ramps may not meet standards. The locations are currently under further study, determine if the current designs are caused for crisis and if, how, how they can be improved.
Additionally, would I use it as a traffic operations assessment tool also called toast. It scores and ranks areas throughout the state based on travel time, safety, traffic volumes, and incident clearance. This map highlights the areas within Lawrence County, where the rates between fair and poor for those measures. As you see on the map of locations that are rated or unfair show up as red, and they indicate areas that should be addressed for improvements. The roadways within a study area are some forecasted to become much more congested. As a result of the traffic projections, traffic levels are measured by a level of service, a through F shown on here, the Los, which is a being the best and F is a worst level service a is no waiting. And at level surface, you start to see some delays, the level of service, he will be waiting much longer and a level of service F you'll basically be standing still the level of service grades are generally based on the delays at the intersections. So odod strives for level of service C or D, uh, which is also acceptable. The map shows the no build level service for an interchange, ramps and intersections along the corridor. Some of the areas with the level service he or worse will be addressed with future projects.
So what all does data tell us? So there's a few takeaways from this following analysis of the data matrix was developed for the locations to bring together all the data, to show where there's issues and opportunities, the low travel time, reliability, where there's accurate intersections, uh, development opportunities, congestion issues, crash areas, and geometric deficiencies were all documented. Also marked, uh, as part of locations has worked, current projects or studies were underway. The areas that are shown to have a high Christ density and were also included in the two of the categories that are shown are highlighted in a yellow orange color, the darker orange color shows areas that have more issues and opportunities for improvements. This is going to help our study team to direct resources, to determine improvements and provide guidance on prioritization of funding.
The next steps for this corridor study is to receive and review comments on the condition assessment, as well as identifying solutions for those problem areas that have been identified. Some additional meetings will be held. Uh, currently there are some studies looking at different alternatives, uh, uh, particularly in the, uh, state route 93 area around Ironton to cross, uh, storms Creek, uh, as well as in the Delta and Grandview area, uh, looking at the existing intersections, the study team, I would like to get some feedback on this information. So since this is a little different than the current ODAT roundabout presentation that you'll see later, uh, all this information that you saw today is placed on the I of a website at www dot Kiowa, ipc.org, uh, on this website as a handout, a comment form, and an interactive map. So again, it's a little different than the ODAT website, uh, but this does show more information on this corridor study. And if you have any questions regarding this order study specifically, um, you can contact Bethany Wilde at Kyla or myself. So we'll go back to Patricia who is now present the U S 52 and state route 93 interchange project.
All right. Thank you, Matt. I'm actually going to turn it over to Kevin Carpenter. Um, and he is going to present the 52 93 interchange improvement project. Thanks Kevin. Thank you, Patricia. Uh, I have a face for radio, so I'm also going to stay ready or a video dark, uh, but I would like to welcome all of you and thank you for your interest in this project. Uh, under the direction of odod district nine, our firm performed a feasibility study to analyze potential improvements for this interchange. This presentation will discuss the studies which have been performed to consider improvements for this interchange.
The interchange of us 52 and state route 93 is an upper township just outside the city of Ironton in Lawrence County, Ohio, us 52 is a four lane freeway and carries traffic generally East to West state, route 93, also known as park Avenue in the project area carries traffic, generally North and South, and serves downtown Ironton and the Ironton Hill shopping center. The interchange is a partial Cloverleaf diamond configuration. The two ramp terminal intersections are approximately 600 feet apart, and each is controlled by a traffic signal, both ramp terminal intersections. I've experienced the high number of rear-end crashes on southbound state, route 93, the location was ranked 45th on the ODAT 2017 highway safety improvement program, suburban intersection list, and was also on the 2019 governor's top one 50 safety location list in the state of Ohio
Due to ongoing safety issues. This interchange has been included in several studies, uh, odod district nine, completed a safety study in 2019, which recommended medium and long-term improvements for countermeasures for this interchange. Also the park Avenue traffic study was developed in 2017 for Kiowa. The purpose of this study was to improve traffic safety and operations on park Avenue from six three through the us 52 interchange. In addition to other improvements, the study recommended the installation of a new sidewalk on the North side of state, route 93 from ninth street to Coralville road. And of course, Mr. Sell horse just talked about the ongoing Kiowa corridor study. And so our studies evaluated, uh, the history of crashes in the interchange area. A total of 64 crashes occurred within the study area between 2013 and 2017 of those crashes, 21 or 33% involved in injury, the amount of rear end and injury crashes at this location exceeds statewide averages for similar intersection,
The ramp terminal intersections rear experience rear-end crashes twice, as often as the statewide average, which indicate a problem. Our team analyzed the crashes and determined congestion is a common cause for these crashes. For example, almost half of the crashes occur when traffic volumes are higher between three and 7:00 PM. Also following too closely is the most cited, contributing factor. Again, indicating congestion may be a problem. The crash statistics tell us weather conditions and intersection lighting are not contributing factors for over 84% of the crashes occurred on dry pavement with no adverse weather conditions and almost 85% of the crashes occurred during daylight.
The purpose of this project is to further evaluate the feasibility of medium and longterm countermeasures identified in the 2019 safety study. This study identified two alternatives for improvement. Alternative one identified as the medium term countermeasures would upgrade the signals at the two ramp terminal intersections improvements would update the signal heads to make them more visible at a southbound signal, head at a height, which can be seen from the North side of the overhead bridges and optimize the signal, timing, coordination, and vehicle detection alternative to represent the long-term countermeasure and consist of converting the two signalized intersections into single lane roundabouts. The 2019 safety study had identified the use of roundabouts as a feasible option to improve safety and operational service at the intersections, but recommended further investigation to more accurately determine the impacts and costs, especially for the southerly intersection due to the proximity of the steeply graded slopes on the South side of the roadway.
So our team first wanted to determine whether roundabouts were a good fit for this location. We reviewed the conceptual layout of the two roundabouts. The roundabouts were designed to ODAT standards and to accommodate standard tractor trailer semi-trucks or WB 60 twos. The first key issue we identified are the steep rock slopes at the Northern corners of the North roundabout and the steep fill slopes along the ramps at the Southern roundabout. If the slopes were impacted, construction costs would increase significantly. We were able to determine impacts to these areas could be avoided. The next key issue identified was the intersection site distance for the eastbound us 52 exit ramp to the Southern proposed roundabout. The line of sight for a vehicle looking left onto state route 93 can be impeded by the U S 52 bridge pier columns at the Southwest corner of the bridge to address this issue. The preliminary layout for the Southern roundabout has been located to maximize the site distance while minimizing impacts. So the Southern quadrants of the intersection, the next key issue identified was the existing slip ramp from northbound 93 to westbound 52. Our team has recommended the removal of the slip ramp with the installation of a roundabout. This is because the existing slip ramp introduces an additional unnecessary merge point, and it is at a poor angle where drivers must look uncomfortably behind them to merge safely.
Our study also incorporated recommendations from the park Avenue traffic study, which identified a need to provide pedestrian access from the city across the U S 52 to the Ironman Hill shopping center. A five foot walks sidewalk has been included with the proposed improvements. The preliminary roundabouts are designed to accommodate potential future projects. For example, they would provide additional capacity, a dedicated turn lanes. If future development occurred to the North of the interchange, both alternatives can be constructed within the existing roadway right away. A retaining wall would likely be required in the sub Southeastern quadrant to avoid impact to the existing healthcare facility.
There's also a potential for some utility conflicts during construction gas and overhead electric lines, maybe impacted by the construction. The city of Aronson has indicated sanitary sewer and water line services are not located within the project area. So the estimated construction cost of alternative one is $457,500. While the estimated construction cost of alternative two is approximately $3.5 million. A cost benefit analysis was completed to determine the financial benefit of this project by comparing the net present value NPV and the table shown of the safety benefit provided by the project preferred preferred countermeasures. Are those having the highest NPV of safety benefits? The expected annual crash adjustment shows a decrease in crashes for both countermeasures alternative two shows a much greater expected annual crash adjustment compared to alternative one. Well, the benefit cost ratio for alternative one is greater than one indicating the cost of this alternative is justified based on the calculated value of safety benefits to be obtained alternative, to should be implemented due to the substantial decrease in expected crashes, particularly for the severe crashes. And the fact that industry knowledge indicates roundabouts are a proven safer type of intersection than traditional signalized intersections. Alternative two is the preferred improvement due to this substantial decrease in expected crash frequency and severity.
The benefit cost analysis show alternative two is expected to reduce crashes by 4.125 annually. Whereas alternative one is expected to reduce crashes by 1.02, four annually while the cost and alternative two is greater than alternative one. The benefit of reduced crashes, including the reduction in severity of crashes is also greater for alternative to our team recommended safety funding, be pursued for alternative two, which has been approved by ODA. So here's some general information about roundabout intersections. Roundabouts are safer alternatives to traffic signal and stop signs, the tight circle of a roundabout forces drivers to slow down and the most severe types of intersection crashes, right? Angle left turn and head on collisions are unlikely and virtually eliminated. Traditional intersections have 32 conflict points. Roundabout intersections have eight conflict points. According to a federal highway administration study roundabouts achieve a 48% reduction in all crashes and a 60 to 80% reduction in fatal or injury crashes when converting a signalized intersection to a roundabout. Sorry about that.
Uh, roundabouts improved traffic flow and are better for the environment. Research shows traffic flow improves after traditional intersections are converted to roundabouts a recent study by the insurance Institute for highway safety found roundabouts contributed to an 89% reduction in delays at a 56% reduction in vehicle stops, less idling vehicle emissions and fuel consumption replacement of signalized intersections with roundabouts has been found to reduce vehicle emissions. Roundabouts are generally safer for pedestrians as well, but aspirins walk on sidewalks around the perimeter and cross only one direction of traffic at a time crossing distances are relatively short and traffic speeds are lower than a traditional intersections.
So this image represents the preferred proposed intersection improvements. From this level, you can see the two roundabouts located at the ramp ramp terminals. The green area indicates where payment is being removed. The orange line represents the new sidewalk along the West side of state, route 93, you can also see additional payment markings North of the interchange area stay around. 93 will be reduced from two lanes southbound to one as drivers approach the Northern roundabout, a single lane in each direction is provided through the interchange area. This image is also available through the website you access to get to this meeting so you can zoom in and better see the details. Our design team also use design software to further verify a single lane roundabout with a single lane approach is acceptable for both intersections. The software allows for simulation of the interaction between the two closely spaced roundabouts. The video is playing at a high rate of speed, but can give you the idea of how many vehicles are expected to be traveling through the intersection at a given time and expected cues.
So the attendant project for the schedule for the project moving forward is to begin design in the spring of 2021 with final design being completed in early 2022, the project will be bid in the fall of 2022. And the current estimate is for construction to begin in the spring of 2023. So I'd like to thank you for your attention. And at this time I will turn it back to Mr. Maguire.
All right. Thank you, Kevin and Matt and Patricia, uh, for the presentations at this time, uh, we would like to hear from the public. So we're going to be opening up for questions and comments. As a reminder, you can still talk with the project team and ask questions using one of the following options. You can type your comment in the chat box on the right side of the screen. At any time during the meeting, just type your comment in the box and click the submit button. You can also text Q four seven six to seven three two two four.
Uh, you will receive an automatic response confirming that you have the correct meaning, and then you may type your comment and send it. You may also call (855) 925-2801 and enter meeting code eight two zero five. Then follow the prompts to enter the speaker queue, or you can leave a voicemail message that will be played for everyone to hear. Uh, remember again, there is a delay between the online video sound and the sound you'll hear on the phone, which will cause an echo. So we do ask that you please turn your computer volume down when speaking, And to start us off, we do have one voicemail that we've received already. We're going to play that for everyone.
This is Steve hunt again here. The best way I think to deal with this intersection is to bill as the fix that so that you're entering the highway from the right, and then we can eliminate the red lights there and make it for your flow of traffic there. We can build an exit row. We could build an additional exit as you're coming off a highway from South point and have it. So you're getting off the highway where the turn area is. We can build another exit, all right, turn around and exit. As you're getting off the highway, coming from Portsmouth and make it like a turnaround. You could build a, another exit as you're coming into town, go on towards Portsmouth and basically make it so that everybody enters the highway coming from the right and what's that we could eliminate the need for a traffic light and provide for a freer flow of traffic going through. We can get rid of those red lights that would help out the traffic situation a lot. Thank you.
All right. And thank you, Steve. Thanks for that message. See, this is Petra shell Westfall with co dot. Um, so just trying to, um, follow what your suggestion was on the ramps. Um, I will tell you that, um, we did take a look, um, our team, as well as, um, HDR has been looking at, um, well and carpenter Marnie did too. We looked at the setup of the interchange and possibly reconfiguring the ramps. Um, I know that we had a lot of concerns, um, come in about the weave on 52, um, that's created by the configuration of the ramps. And so we did take a step back on this project to look at just, um, how the are configured and how they tie into 52 and how they tie into 93 to see if there might be a way to better reconfigure it. Um, in our analysis of it, um, we had several ideas that might improve the traffic flow through there, through that reconfiguration, but unfortunately the project cost, um, was just driven up significantly.
When you look at reconfiguring the ramp, there are steep rock slopes, um, in this area and utilities. And so it's not off the table at this point. Um, it's actually being reviewed further with HDR corridor study through Tioga, um, at possibly reconfiguring these ramps, but we weren't able to, um, uh, include it with the project. This project at the interchange, the focus of this project was this rear end crashes on state route 93. And so it was considered and is, um, still being considered as a future if future improvement. Um, but not able to combine it in with this project.
I don't know Kevin or Matt, if you have anything to add to that, but yeah, this is Kevin, Kevin Carver. Um, yeah, basically what you said, Patricia is correct. So on the screen, uh, this area here is, is, uh, a steep rock slope, which would be a considerable expense to go through there. And then there's some utilities that come from the tower, uh, across into Ironton here. So as you're getting, as you're building this exit ramp, you'd have to relocate some significant water lines and sanitary lines over here. Um, and then as we pull this ramp out, uh, we're going to mirror this interchange basically to have a diamond interchange on both sides. Uh, we've got storms Creek here. You've got some existing bridge structures, um, that would come into play. Uh, so yeah, as you mentioned, it's a, it's a pretty expensive endeavor and it was outside of the scope of our project, which was again to correct the accident issues along, uh, stair out 93. Okay.
This is Matt sellers from ACR. I will just add on that, that we are currently looking at possibly, uh, realigning that, that loop ramp that's on that westbound direction of 52 there, but, but again, as both Kevin and Patricia mentioned, uh, it becomes a lot more expensive and more time consuming and there definitely be longer, longer term improvements. Uh, but we are still investigating those as well. Right. Thanks everyone for the information. We did have a speaker on the line who turned over to them. Yes. I was wondering there
I've dealt with these turnabouts and a lot of places I go to I'm a truck driver and these things have always caused backups delays. These things have always been nightmare to me when I've had to use them as a semi-tractor trailer driver. And what I'm concerned about mainly is that if you do this, you're going to have traffic backed up, clear into town. You're going to have it backed up Clare past the shopping area. Is there no way at all that we can make it so that we can exit onto these highways, get on the highways from the right-hand lane, coming both in and out of town and just eliminate the traffic lights all together.
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