‘Pretty rough;’ Drivers concerned about return of I-75 contraflow lane

DAYTON — Today, the Ohio Department of Transportation reopened the Contraflow lane to help keep traffic moving on I-75, but some drivers are concerned about it.

Drivers told News Center 7 that they do what they can to avoid the stretch of highway between U.S. 35 and State Route 725.

The new traffic pattern creates three lanes of traffic heading north and three heading south on I-75.

The change people need to pay extra attention to is drivers in one lane heading south cross over the median and use the lanes heading north.

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ODOT told News Center 7 last year the contraflow lane was the best way to move traffic through the construction area.

That isn’t the news drivers wanted to hear that day.

“I’d wish they hurry up and make up their mind. It slows down. We had standstills every day,” Tameka James said.

Last year, News Center 7 talked to drivers who said crashes left them sitting in the Contraflow lane for hours.

Monday, a different driver, Ira Perkins, questioned the timing of when crews were working.

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“It’s pretty rough I think they should do more night work than what they’re doing. I think that’s where we’re having all of our trouble because in the daytime they’re clogging the traffic up,” Perkins said.

While the contraflow lane was open between late March and the end of October last year, there were almost 330 crashes. That’s about 1.5 crashes a day.

Between November and this month, with the Contraflow lane closed, ODOT reported a little more than 200 wrecks, which was a little more than 1 crash a day.

Previously, ODOT and law enforcement blamed speeders for most of the problems.

Drivers told News Center 7 they saw that as well, but also said this stretch of I-75 was confusing.

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“I don’t even take the highway. I take Gettysburg mainly throughout the city and then I find city streets to go through,” James said.

Drivers would love to see the contraflow lane gone for good, but the last ODOT told News Center 7, that it will be next summer before it finishes this highway work.

“So I think it’s going to make it a little worse to try and add that little connector there. We will see. That’s a dangerous pivot there,” James said.

While ODOT would not talk to News Center 7 on camera about that stretch of I-75 and the contraflow lane, they said they would talk about it on Thursday.

News Center 7 is working to find out what ODOT plans to do to cut down on the crashes it reported last year.

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