By 1808Delaware
A statewide push to reduce traffic deaths is landing close to home in Delaware County.
On Monday, Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Transportation Director Pamela Boratyn announced details of 39 roadway safety projects spread across 27 Ohio counties. Together, the projects represent a $97.2 million investment through ODOT’s Highway Safety Improvement Program, the largest per-capita safety program of its kind in the country.
That scale matters. Ohio has now recorded four consecutive years of reductions in traffic fatalities and serious injuries, a trend state officials directly tie to sustained spending on targeted safety upgrades.
What’s Coming to Delaware County
Among the projects approved is a $3.42 million improvement at the intersection of Clark Shaw Road and South Section Line Road in Delaware County. Scheduled for construction in 2030 and overseen by the Delaware County Engineer, the project will replace the existing intersection with a single-lane roundabout.
This is not cosmetic work. Intersections like Clark Shaw and Section Line are often flagged by crash data as higher-risk locations, especially where traffic volumes, speeds, and turning movements intersect. Roundabouts are one of the most consistently effective countermeasures available, reducing severe crashes by slowing traffic and eliminating the most dangerous conflict points.
The Bigger Strategy Behind the Spending
“We want Ohioans to get from place to place safely,” Governor DeWine said, emphasizing that road design and physical safety improvements remain central to the state’s transportation strategy.
Across the state, this funding round will support a wide range of proven safety measures: new roundabouts, added turn lanes, intersection reconfigurations, upgraded signage and pavement markings, and more visible crosswalks, sidewalks, and bike lanes. Projects will roll out between State Fiscal Years 2026 and 2031, reflecting a long-range approach rather than quick fixes.
Boratyn described the program as deliberately data-driven, focusing on locations with a history of fatal or injury crashes where previous efforts have fallen short. The idea is to intervene earlier and more decisively, before tragedy repeats itself.
Safety Important On All Roads
For Delaware County, the Clark Shaw Road project is a reminder that safety dollars are not just flowing to major highways or urban centers. County roads, where everyday commuting, school traffic, and farm and freight vehicles mix, are often where the most preventable crashes occur.
A single roundabout may not feel transformative at first glance. But taken as part of a statewide system that is steadily reducing deaths year after year, it represents something larger: a shift from reacting to crashes to designing roads that make serious crashes far less likely in the first place.
If the data continues to hold, by the time that roundabout opens in 2030, it will be doing quiet, daily work that rarely makes headlines and that is exactly the point.
Image by Samir Smier from Pixabay
