Be careful out there
Motorists must slow down and maintain safe distances in driving in wet and icy weather.
The Editorial Board
Tue, 21 Jan 2020 05:00:00 GMT
link -- with images
An 11-car pile-up on the Anthony Wayne Trail on Jan. 12 reminded us of the heightened risk to motorists that comes with highway construction — and how those risks are multiplied by inclement weather.
In that early Sunday morning accident near City Park Avenue, a car slid on the icy surface, slammed into a curb, and came to a stop with a blown tire. The cars and trucks behind this driver were unable to stop in time, and in an instant they were piled up against each other.
Police reported no injuries. Nor did police issue any citations.
That section of the Trail is vulnerable to accidents because of construction, under which all traffic is being channeled through one lane. Just north of where the accident occurred is a one-lane segment that was continuously plagued by potholes, contributing to cars slowing or weaving to avoid driving into one of these metal-jarring craters in the pavement. Within three days of the crash, construction crews milled down the dangerous patch of potholed asphalt and replaced it with smooth new asphalt.
The Ohio Department of Transportation and the city of Toledo are in the midst of a $10.1 million project to widen the Trail near downtown and replace it with a higher span than the current bridge over the railroad tracks. Last summer, we were told the project would last another year because of delays in coordinating the bridge work with traffic on the tracks below.
Motorists accept willingly the sacrifice of squeezing into a single lane temporarily because they know a smoother and safer Anthony Wayne Trail will emerge when the work is done. Indeed, ODOT chose to implement the single in-bound lane as a trade-off for shortening the duration of the project by a month. ODOT and the city must keep those narrow lanes as safe as possible and end this project with a positive safety record.
Motorists must slow down and maintain safe distances in driving in wet and icy weather. We’ve been warned.