This redesign is in conjunction with a remodeling of the access into Riegert Square, where a significant percentage of the 37 crashes from 2019 to 2021 are because of vehicles exiting the shopping plaza.
Of those crashes on Pleasant Avenue in front of Reigert Square, 12 were injury related, according to the city.
Not all of the crashes were because of the 15 curb cuts at Riegert Square, as there are 27 along both sides of that stretch of Pleasant, said City Engineer Nick Dill. Most of those 37 accidents were either angled or rear-end crashes, and nearly a dozen were preventable, he said, chalked up to driver confusion when exiting one of the curb cuts on either side of Pleasant Avenue, he said.
“It’s not getting better,” Dill said.
From 2017 to 2019, there were 21 accidents along this stretch of Pleasant, with only four injuries.
The big issue for the accidents are lane changes and attempting to get onto the road. South of Wessel Drive and north of Patterson Boulevard ― a less than a half-mile stretch ― Pleasant Avenue has only one directional lane for northbound and southbound traffic. As traffic expands from one to two lanes as it approaches either end, the northbound lanes are forced to consolidate back to one lane.
About 70% of the motorists continue to travel north toward Hamilton, Dill said.
Southbound Pleasant Avenue traffic doesn’t consolidate to one lane until the Resor Road Road/Emerald Lake Drive intersection, about a mile later.
Moving south on Pleasant Avenue, from Wessel Drive to Hunter Road, there were even more accidents and injuries than in the city’s Town Center. From 2019 to 2021, there were 63 total crashes with 20 injuries, and 20% of those crashes were preventable, Dill said.
So this all prompted the city’s engineers to ask, “What if we don’t open it up to two lanes, and just keep it one lane all the way through up to Patterson and into Hamilton?”
And as it stands, that’s the goal for the city for both northbound and southbound traffic, and Dill said this strategy would reduce the number of accidents that have been occurring along Pleasant Avenue. Also, a center turn lane would be added, and Public Works Director Ben Mann said there would be enough room to accommodate a multi-use path on the western side of the road for most of the stretch.
However, the city may need to add pavement to have the room from Resor Road heading south. The goal is to have three 11-foot lanes, a five-foot shoulder, and 10 feet of grass separating the roadway with a 10-foot multiuse path. Mann said they need to look at the feasibility of that part of the plan, and if it would impact the old stone wall along Pleasant Avenue. He and Dill believe there is “a reasonable chance” to extend the path from the Town Center to Hunter Road, which leads to Harbin Park.
Vice Mayor Tim Meyers voiced concerns about a multiuse path along Pleasant, specifically from Wessel Drive south to Hunter Road, citing it’s one of the city’s busiest roads.
More than 20,500 cars travel Pleasant Avenue a day, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Mann conceded, saying, “it’s not ideal” but acknowledged it would be safer than the grass that currently exists. Though the 10 feet of extra grass and 10-foot path would make it safer with a single lane of directional traffic, it still “would not be the ideal route for everybody.”
“It would be a vast improvement on what we want now,” he said. “If we want to connect the rest of town, it’s really the best opportunity to do it.”
There isn’t a cost estimate yet on the project, but the city will seek potential funding sources for the phases of the project. Mann said Part of Pleasant Avenue would be repaved in 2027 with the Urban Paving Program, where the Ohio Department of Transportation would pay for 80% of the project.
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