ASHLAND — Motorists driving on U.S. 30 in Ashland County will see some changes to the divided highway’s safety features in late 2028.
A Ohio Department of Transportation rehabilitation project will repave 10 miles of road, make drainage improvements and include work to bridges along the stretch.
That project will also include installation of restricted conflict U-turns, or RCUTs, at two major intersections: U.S. 30 and Ohio 511, and County Road 30A and Fry Road.
“RCUTS prohibit motorists from crossing over the four lanes like it is right now. So when you come north or south on 511, you’ll be forced to make a righthand turn,” ODOT public information officer Crystal Neelon said.
The safety feature is intended to reduce crashes at the intersection. There was a fatal three-vehicle crash at the U.S. 30 and Ohio 511 intersection on Feb. 13 that killed two Wooster men and hospitalized two other people.
The crash came after a Dodge Dart allegedly failed to stop at the stop sign on Ohio 511 at the intersection of U.S. 30 and was struck by a semi-truck.
After the collision, the semi-truck went off of the left side of the road across the median and into the westbound lanes of U.S. 30, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
ODOT has eyed improvements at the intersection for years
ODOT applied for safety feature funding in 2023 for that specific intersection after a review of the hot spot revealed 13 crashes occurred from 2019 to 2022, Neelon said
Between 2023 and 2025, Neelon said there were 18 additional crashes.
“A safety improvement was needed at the intersection,” she said.
The safety funding was approved, and ODOT added the intersection to the already-planned project.
Neelon said major rehabilitation plans, such as this one, take roughly six years to be planned, and ODOT is planning phase one right now.
“Sometimes people don’t realize how much time we put into reviewing intersections,” she said.
The project is estimated to take two and-a-half years to complete and cost $74 million, but that number could change, Neelon said.
How effective are RCUTs?
“On two lane divided highways with RCUTs, we see a huge reduction in crashes, and in the amount of injuries when there is a crash.”
Neelon
“On two lane divided highways with RCUTs, we see a huge reduction in crashes, and in the amount of injuries when there is a crash,” Neelon said.
Neelon pointed to RCUT success stories:
- The RCUT at Ohio 603 and U.S. 30 was installed in 2022. A review of crashes at the intersection over the last two and a half years since revealed angle crashes were reduced 92% and injury crashes by 75%, as compared to crashes from 2018-2020.
- At the Ohio 89 and U.S. Route 30 intersection, there were 17 crashes in three-year span before an RCUT was installed in 2021. Now in two and-a-half years, that number has been reduced to six.
“It forces drivers to focus on one direction of travel at a time,” Neelon said.
RCUT intersections can reduce the total number of conflicts points by up to 50%, limiting collision opportunities and the severity of such collisions, according to ODOT’s website.
