Neighbors cite safety concerns on I-475 project

David Dysard, left, ODOT District 2 deputy director, answers a question about speed limits from David Axilrod, a Lincolnshire Woods resident, during the meeting at the Sanger Branch Library. THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH Enlarge | Photo Reprints

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Children's safety while walking through construction zones to get to school, emergency-vehicle delays because of congestion, and speeders cutting through side streets are potential problems with upcoming reconstruction and widening on I-475 in West Toledo, neighborhood residents said during a meeting Tuesday night.

Kathleen Daley of Marlow Road said she's worried about motorists racing through a short curve and bank on Berdan Avenue at the abandoned railroad crossing near Sherbrooke Road or cutting through the neighborhood when they discover Sherbrooke itself is closed at the freeway.

"There are at least three dozen streets that are going to become short cuts," Police Chief Mike Navarre said at the 100-minute session that drew a crowd of about 100 at the Sanger Branch Library.

Meanwhile, Dennis Charvat, the Ohio Department of Transportation's project engineer for the $63.9 million, three-year reconstruction, promised designated walkways, separated from traffic by concrete barriers, for children walking to McKinley Elementary and other nearby schools.

David Dysard, the transportation department's district deputy director in Bowling Green, said he expects police and fire vehicles will use alternative routes to avoid traffic in the work zones, just as many motorists will.

"If [traffic] backs up to the point where it constricts the other alternatives, then we have a problem," Mr. Dysard said.

Contractor E.S. Wagner began preliminary work at night this week, and on Monday is to close the Monroe Street entrance to eastbound I-475, near Grace Lutheran Church, as work-zone set-up gets moving. Bigger impacts will occur later next month, when the eastbound freeway entrance from Central and Upton avenues closes, as will two ramps linking I-475 with Jeep Parkway, and the Sherbrooke bridge over I-475.

But the project's inconvenience will reach a peak in the fall when the Douglas interchange also closes for reconstruction, shutting down the only other eastbound entrance east of Secor Road. Rebuilding the Douglas ramps will take "a minimum of nine to 10 months, more likely a year or even a little longer than that," Mr. Dysard said.

Several speakers said that, at the very least, the city of Toledo should wrap up its reconstruction of Secor north of Monroe before the Douglas ramps close, because many West Toledoans are using Douglas to avoid Secor.

While the ODOT officials said they could not commit to such a coordination, the city's Secor schedule anticipates reopening well before the Douglas ramps are blocked.

David Axilrod, a Lincolnshire Woods resident, suggested posting a 40 mph speed limit on I-475 through the work area instead of the 50-mph zone ODOT plans to post, and using speed-triggered cameras to enforce it. Mr. Dysard said state law does not allow such cameras, and 50 mph should be safe as long as drivers honor it.

Wagner will add lanes to I-475 between Rushland Avenue and I-75, build an interchange at ProMedica Parkway to replace ramps at Central, Upton, and Jackman Road, and widen two single-lane ramps at I-75 to allow a second lane to open once a future I-75 widening project is built.

Contact David Patch at:

dpatch@theblade.com

or 419-724-6094.