MANSFIELD — Richland County Regional Planning Commission recently published a crash analysis report that identifies which intersections could qualify for state funding for improvements based on safety criteria by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
This detailed analysis contains statistics, charts and graphs regarding Richland County crashes for years 2013 through 2015, and it includes a priority intersection list, a priority pedestrian/bike cluster list and a high density crash intersection list by jurisdiction.
It replaces the high crash locations report that was released annually by regional planning.
“We’re really just trying to better serve the municipalities within the county,” said Todd Blankenship, transportation technical director, of the switch.
The current methodology used to determine the county’s intersection priority list more closely aligns with ODOT’s ranking system than the previous methodology. This, in turn, will help municipalities that wish to seek funds for engineering improvements through the Highway Safety Improvement Program.
As part of the Highway Safety Improvement Program, ODOT dedicates about $102 million annually for engineering improvements at high-crash and severe-crash locations, which is available to ODOT staff and local governments, and it can be used to make improvements on any public roadway, according to ODOT’s website.
Funding requests typically range from $200,000 to $5 million, though the department will consider funding requests up to $10 million, ODOT’s website says. Funding is available for all stages of development and typically requires a minimum 10 percent local match. Safety improvements, such as upgrading signs, signals, pavement markings and guardrail are eligible for 100 percent funding.
“There are different forms for the application itself that I’ve started to complete, so that if they (the municipalities) pursue funding, I can just give them those documents,” explained Kathryn Sharpnack, transportation engineer. “I think that will cut down their time and their effort that they have to put into the application.”
“Because ultimately, the application for funding has to come from the municipality,” Blankenship added.
Forty-four intersections are included in the intersection priority list, each of which are ranked according to their potential for funding from highest to lowest.
There are five different categories used for determining an intersection’s ranking, which is based on a 50-point scale.
Topping the list was the Stewart Road and Grace Street intersection in Madison Township (40 points), followed by the Trimble Road and U.S. 30 westbound ramps in Mansfield (34 points); the Park Avenue West and Trimble Road intersection in Mansfield (32 points); the West Fourth Street and Trimble Road intersection in Mansfield (31 points); and the Lexington-Springmill Road and Walker Lake Road intersection in Ontario (31 points). The complete list can be found here.
Blankenship and Sharpnack noted that these intersections are not meant to be viewed as “dangerous intersections,” but those that have a greater chance for funding. However, regardless of where the intersection falls on the priority list, funding is not guaranteed.
“We will be sitting down with each jurisdiction that’s on the list and discussing which (intersections) they have a concern with and what interest they have (in terms of pursuing funding),” Sharpnack said.
The report showed that there were 3,439 crashes in 2013, 3,718 crashes in 2014, and 3,718 crashes in 2015 (10,875 crashes total).
The crash data was generated through the ODOT GIS Crash Analysis Tool (GCAT). GCAT crash data is not official and has been provided by the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS) and modified by ODOT for engineering and analysis purposes, according to the report.
Sharpnack said there didn’t seem to be anything unusual with the findings of this report. See the full report here.
In the future, Sharpnack hopes to continue using this new crash analysis format for the crash analysis reports, which will be updated annually. For the next report, she said she’d like to develop a segment (road that’s not an intersection) priority list.
