The superstreet project for U.S. Route 35 in Beavercreek Township, Ohio, has received a $5 million commitment in state funding.
The funding, which comes by way of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Highway Safety Improvement Program, represents nearly half the estimated cost for the highway upgrades, about $12.5 million.
ODOT first floated the idea for the project at community meetings in February. With no strong opposition to the project, ODOT officials continued developing the idea and applied for the safety funding.
The superstreet concept forces a driver who wants to make a left turn onto a main highway to instead make a right turn followed by a signal-controlled U-turn onto that main road. The proposed project would see the elimination of left turns and straight-across driving at the Route 35 and Factory Road and Orchard Lane intersections in favor of the U-turn access.
The traffic lights at the Factory and Orchard intersections would be timed to be green for drivers on Route 35 for longer amounts of time, with the goal of reducing congestion and accidents. The superstreet project is seen as an initial strategy to reduce the number of crashes in the Factory/Orchard area while a full-raised highway interchange project is pursued.
According to a recent ODOT presentation, over a three-year period, there was an average of 100 rear-end accidents per year in the Factory/Orchard area.
