The Ohio Department of Transportation recently approved a project at the intersection of State Route 7 and Veto Road where a RCUT (Reduced Collision U-Turn) project will be constructed in 2027. (Photo Provided)

MARIETTA — The Ohio Department of Transportation office in Marietta will be getting money from the Highway Safety Improvement Program, announced by Governor Mike DeWine, for two projects in Washington County.

The governor and Ohio Department of Transportation Director Pamela Boratyn recently announced $97.2 million will be spent on 39 transportation projects that will improve safety on roadways in 27 counties across the state, including Washington County, according to a press release from ODOT.

“We want Ohioans to get from place to place safely,” DeWine said in the release. “We put a lot of effort into road design and physical road safety in order to make our roads as safe as possible.”

Roadway safety improvements funded through this round of the grant program will include roundabouts, turn lanes, intersection upgrades, more visible signs and pavement markings, and high-visibility crosswalks, sidewalks, and bike lanes.

The projects will be funded in State Fiscal Years 2026 through 2031.

Deputy Director for ODOT District 10 Rich Oster said Wednesday that Washington County was receiving around $6 million of that money for two separate projects.

One project, a pedestrian safety improvement project, is in Beverly and will use around $2 million to build sidewalks and crosswalks along State Route 60. Oster said that work will occur in the summer of 2028.

The project came about after a traffic light was removed in Beverly along State Route 60 and there were concerns from the village about getting pedestrians across the highway safely as well as making sure sidewalks and crosswalks were in places that would help pedestrian safety, he said, adding the project is still in the design phase.

Beverly Mayor Jim Ullman said he is working closely with ODOT to make some safety upgrades along State Route 60 and State Route 339.

“They have been excellent partners and asking me for some suggestions to add to their project,” he said. “They said if they couldn’t get it into their project they would help me with some grants.”

Ullman said the town has communicated some issues and concerns to ODOT over the years over having no curbing along Route 60 which has created some hazards to their sidewalks, especially in the wintertime.

“Our sidewalks are old and are in need of some tender loving care,” Ullman said. “They are past that in some places so we are hoping to work with (ODOT) to replace a lot of them before something happens.”

The second project “is a big one and will have a pretty big impact for the citizens of Washington County,” Oster said.

The project will be done at the intersection of State Route 7 and Veto Road. Oster described the project as an RCUT project (Reduced Collision U-Turn).

The project will cost $3.8 million and will be done during the 2027 construction season.

“What it does is eliminate left-hand turns from secondary roads out onto Route 7 from those roads,” Oster said. “Instead you will be making a right turn and going about a quarter of a mile and then do a u-turn which eliminates you having to watch for traffic coming both ways.

“You only have to focus on one direction at a time.”

RCUTs have been shown to reduce serious injury crashes and fatality crashes by around 54%, according to the Federal Highway Administration, Oster said.

If people are traveling along Route 7 and have to turn left onto one of those roads, they will still be able to do that, he said.

“These were specific planned projects that we applied for and were awarded,” Oster said. “Everything we do here at ODOT we do for the safety of the traveling public as our top priority.”

In the press release, Boratyn said all of the projects being approved for this funding represent a strategic, data-driven approach to reducing deadly and serious injury crashes on Ohio roadways.

Ohio’s Highway Safety Improvement Program addresses road locations with a history of fatal or injury crashes where other safety improvements have not been effective.

“By combining proven safety countermeasures with proactive improvements, we are investing in solutions that save lives and reduce the risk of crashes before they happen,” Boratyn said in the press release.

Over the last five years, the State Route 7 and Veto Road intersection has seen around 10 serious crashes of which two were fatalities, Oster said.

“We try to address these projects based upon the data that is presented to us and work to try to reduce those crashes as much as we can,” he said.

The RCUT concept is fairly new to this area with a couple recently installed around Coolville in Athens County along U.S. 50, Oster said.

“They seem to be working very well,” he said. “Other states around the nation have been using them for years with great success to reduce those serious crashes and fatalities.”

While the project is being constructed traffic on the roadways will continue and possibly will be reduced to one lane at times.

“We should not have to close the road,” Oster said. “Traffic will be maintained.

“We just ask people to slow down and watch out for the construction crews to minimize possible injuries to them.”

Overall, the state of Ohio has spent the past four years reducing fatal crashes through projects like this and the funding made available to do them, he said.

“It is making a difference and reducing fatalities in the State of Ohio,” Oster said. “We are not aware of any other state in the nation that has been able to provide four straight years of reducing fatal crashes.

“That is a pretty substantial accomplishment for Ohio.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com