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BELPRE - Planned construction to open up the Braun Road and Farson Street intersections with U.S. 50 to aid in the prevention of accidents has been pushed back, an official said.

"Due to finances and the way Triple W and the Ohio Public Works scored the project, I moved it back," said Mayor Mike Lorentz.

The project, which will lengthen the turn lanes from U.S. 50 onto Braun Road and Farson Street and put new traffic lights at those intersections, is expected to cost about $550,000 when it begins in the fall of 2011. The original estimated cost of the project was $765,000.

"I had wanted work to begin this coming spring, but because of the way the project scored, we were not able to get the funding right away," Lorentz said. "To have kept it on schedule, the city would have to come up with $150,000, and that isn't do-able."

In August, city council unanimously passed on all three readings a resolution to allow Lorentz to apply for $140,000 in grant funds from the Ohio Public Works Commission.

The grant was to help cover the $189,000 the city will own in matching funds on the project. If another similar grant goes through in the future, the city should only need to pay about $50,000 out of pocket, Lorentz said.

"The extra time allows us the chance to get more funds, so it's not all a bad thing," Lorentz said.

The project is expected to be primarily funded through the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Lorentz said the need for the project is great because those two intersections make up 10 percent of all accidents in the Belpre City Limits, many of them fatal.

"In the last 10 years we have had eight fatal accidents and seven of them have been at either Braun Road or Farson Street," he said.

By lengthening the left turning lanes on U.S. 50 to get onto the two streets, Lorentz believes drivers will be able to see the oncoming traffic to better assess when to turn.

"I know it's an optical illusion, but it allows you to see better," he said.

A similar project was performed at the U.S. 50 and Clement Avenue intersection about five years ago and Lorentz said that intersection no longer sees accidents.

"Since that project, there hasn't been a single accident at that intersection and, I believe, it is because drivers can see better and farther," he said.