Matt Bruning, press secretary for the Ohio Department of Transportation, told the Journal-News there are only a handful of DDI interchanges in the state and this location is perfect for the unique design, because it will eliminate the dangerous left-hand turns. There has been a 37% reduction in overall crashes and fatal and serious injury wrecks have dropped by about 54% where these designs are deployed.
“They are absolutely a safety measure,” Bruning said. “I know when people look at it on paper, especially when we put these in for the first time, they go that looks so confusing, there’s no way people will know how to use that, that’s going to be a disaster and there’s going to be crashes everywhere. That’s just not the case.”
Bruning said drivers here should have an easier time navigating the new DDI since many drivers have probably already traversed the Union Centre Boulevard interchange, “once they drive them and experience them they certainly come around.”
Bruning said since this money is only for the preliminary engineering, the plan could change as the project moves forward because “with any safety measure there’s not one size fits all.” He said ODOT recently put the brakes on a DDI project at Interstate 75 and Ohio 725 in Dayton, “on second review we decided that might not be the best option for that location.”
ODOT District 8 spokeswoman Kathleen Fuller said the study could take up to 18 months and could produce other alternative safety and traffic control measures. The design phase could take another couple years, based on what the feasibility study produces. She said a very rough cost estimate for construction is $5 million to $15 million and there is no completion date estimate yet.
“There are so many variables involved, since this is very, very preliminary it’s kind of hard to hazard a guess as to how long this will take,” Fuller said adding they still need to identify construction funding.
Butler County Engineer Greg Wilkens told the Journal-News he is “tickled” the state is undertaking this project, because in the past, rather than wait for the state they’ll just go ahead and do projects locally. He said this will be a welcome addition.
“You’re looking for big traffic movement and 747 and 129 are moving some traffic now through that intersection, it gets backed up,” Wilkens said. “It’s a good project, a needed project, I’m glad to see ODOT jumping on it.”
Gov. Mike DeWine announced $61 million in funding from ODOT’s Highway Safety Improvement Program for 27 new traffic safety projects in numerous counties across the state on Monday.
Wilkens secured $927,218 for a new single-lane roundabout at Dimmick and McCauly roads in West Chester Twp.
“We just started recognizing our accident history, that the accidents were building out there and made a submittal for it,” Wilkens said about the grant. “We were fortunate enough to receive 100% funding on it. It’s safety money so it worked out well.”
He said it will be a smaller roundabout they hope to build in 2026. There are 39 roundabouts in the county and two currently under construction. Whenever possible he chooses traffic circles over signalized intersections.
“They work because they’re safe,” he said. “That’s the issue behind they are a lot safer, there’s no comparison.”
Diverging diamonds
The Ohio Dept. of Transportation says a diverging diamond interchange, or DDI, is a relatively new type of highway interchange introduced to the U.S. in the early 2000s. Drivers often wonder about the safety of driving “on the other side of the road” in this configuration.
“For high volumes, such as near major shopping corridors, Diverging Diamond Interchanges are best. Here’s why: It eliminates left turns against oncoming traffic. It eliminates traffic signal phases, reducing delays. They provide better sight distance, can usually be built cheaper and faster than a traditional interchange, and they have reduced crashes by an average of 37 percent and injury and fatal crashes by an average of 54 percent.”
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