A dangerous crash-prone intersection in Fayette County is being upgraded to reduce the number of crashes taking place there.
Our Christina Wolford was joined on-air this week by Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth, Lt. Jeff Madden of the Wilmington Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 6 Public Information Officer Brooke Ebersole, to speak on solutions to the dangers posed at the intersection of U.S. 22 and Jamison Road.
Overhead view of U.S. 22 at Jamison Road, screen captured on Google Earth.
ODOT District 6 is working to install safety upgrades at the intersection, where according to Lt. Madden, 18 traffic crashes have occurred since 2018, with the vast majority due to Jamison Road motorist’s failure to yield to traffic on U.S. 22.
“We use data-driven analytics to determine where we’re going to go and enforce traffic laws,” said Lt. Madden. “I can tell you that U.S. 22 and Jamison is the number one crash-intersection comparative to all the other intersections within Fayette County. It’s definitely an area of concern.”
Sheriff Stanforth said one of the main issues of the intersection is that drivers of Jamison Road are confronted by a lengthy distance to cover when crossing U.S. from a stopped position.
“You’re travelling from a stop on Jamison Road to get across 22 onto the other side of Jamison Road,” said Sheriff Stanforth. “You’re literally traveling the equivalent of six traffic lanes. It’s not marked as such, but that’s a long distance to go from a stop to get across that intersection.”
Sheriff Stanforth said whether it’s traffic coming either out of Washington CH or traffic coming in to Washington CH from the Sabina area, the distance across US 22 from Jamison Road, coupled with the high speeds of U.S. 22 drivers, is a wide distance to cover.
“Unfortunately, people are misjudging that distance and they are pulling out from Jamison into east and westbound traffic from U.S. 22, and causing collisions,” said Stanforth.
According to Brooke Ebersole, ODOT is currently taking steps to increase safety at the intersection with both short-term and long-term solutions.
The short-term solution is to install rumble strips on each end of Jamison Road, ahead of the intersection, and restriping U.S. 22 to narrow its east and westbound traffic into fewer lanes.
“Those strips provide an added level of defense,” said Ebersole. They grab your attention and let you know that traffic on U.S. 22 isn’t going to stop for you. It requires you to stop, look up, and pay attention. The other thing we’re examining is restriping the intersection on U.S. 22. Right now, it’s several lanes in each direction, but as you’re going on U.S. 22 toward Washington CH, it already narrows it down into two lanes, so realistically, we think that if we bring that narrowing back toward Jamison Road and streamline traffic, we’d make it easier for traffic coming off Jamison Road to get across or turn right or left.”
The long-term solution for the intersection according to Ebersole is to install a roundabout. She said a roundabout would force drivers along both U.S. 22 and Jamison Road to slow their speed.
“We have every reason to believe a roundabout really is the answer for long-term safety improvements, but these things take time,” said Ebersole. “We’ve got the funding approved and we’re moving forward with the design process, but unfortunately that doesn’t happen overnight. This intersection is still be used by thousands of vehicles every day. At your typical intersection, there are more than thirty conflict points, more than 30 areas where your car can collide with another car at any given moment. When we introduce a roundabout, we bring that conflict point number down to eight – most of them on the front or back of your vehicle. You might walk away with a bent fender, but you’re walking a way with your life and that’s what’s important.”
The chief suggestion submitted to ODOT from community members is to simply install a new traffic light along U.S. 22, but Ebersole said that would have little effect on the number of crashes taking place.
“There's no science, no data to back up a belief that we would see a reduction in crashes at all,” said Ebersole.
The addition of a traffic light at the intersection on U.S. 22 according to Ebersole, would only change the type of crashes that are taking place, which have mostly been angle crashes, better known as t-bone crashes.
“Once we introduce a traffic light, we’ll maybe see a decrease in t-bone crashes, but we’ll simply change them to a rear-end crash,” said Ebersole. And when you’re talking about a t-bone at 65 mph or a rear-end crash at 65 mph, you’re likely talking about the same result. There’s a high likelihood someone doesn’t walk away from that crash.”
Lt. Madden also promoted the increased safety provided by roundabouts.
“My personal experience is that I live in Mason, Ohio and there’s a lot of roundabouts in that area, and I think it’s one of those situations where anytime there’s a change, people are kind of have adverse thoughts toward it,” said Madden. “But what I can tell you is there has been a positive effect, especially where I live.”
In closing, Ebersole said construction for the roundabout at the intersection of U.S. 22 and Jamison Road is still a ways off with the finished product not expected until sometime in 2025. In the meantime, she said it’s hoped the short-term solution of adding rumble strips and restriping Route 22, will impact the number of crashes taking place at the intersection until the long-term roundabout solution is fully brought about.