The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) recently installed a system to detect and deter wrong-way drivers along an 18-mile stretch of I-71 in Hamilton County.
The system includes 82 detection devices and 92 electronic signs at 23 locations from downtown Cincinnati to Fields-Ertel Road. LED lights around the edges of several “wrong way” and “do not enter” signs blink when the system is activated, and an alert is sent to the Ohio Department of Transportation Traffic Management Center in Columbus.
ODOT selected the location because of the number of alcohol establishments located nearby, ramp traffic volumes, wrong-way and alcohol crashes, and 911 calls, ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks said.
The system is the first to be permanently installed. Two stand-alone devices were pilot tested in Cleveland and Columbus.
While wrong-way crashes represent less than half a percent of accidents in the state, they are 40 times more deadly.
ODOT has been installing additional signage, reflectivity, and striping in 17 counties. These counties have accounted for 82 percent of the wrong-way crashes over the past decade and have a high number of highway interchanges.
The counties are Belmont, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lake, Licking, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Montgomery, Richland, Stark, Trumbull, and Wood.