DAYTON — Crews just finished a construction project meant to make roads safer for drivers.
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One man said it’s doing just the opposite in his Dayton neighborhood.
Craig Robinson has lived off Philadelphia Drive for 25 years.
He said he loves his neighborhood.
“It’s quiet. I get along with all my neighbors. We’re really close,” Robinson said.
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He’s had his fill of Dayton’s latest road diet project; he’s not happy with the new look of Philadelphia.
“Not in the least, and neither are my neighbors. We’ve discussed it many times,” Robinson said.
We’ve been covering road diet projects in Dayton for years.
The work narrows roads to lower speeds and increase safety.
“Ever since they’ve put those up. Every day there’s like two or three people that hit those blocks and tear their cars up. Three times yesterday,” Robinson said.
And Robinson says those mini medians are hard to get around when turning onto Philadelphia from side streets.
“When you’re making a right turn, you have to turn in the oncoming traffic in order to make your turn. And that’s not good,” he said.
“A bigger truck might have to go over the median, but they do that but a car and smaller truck should have no trouble making that turn if they take it slow,” Joe Weinel, City of Dayton Division of Civil Engineering chief engineer, said.
Weinel said they took a lot of input on the project from residents before work started.
He said the stretch is designed for normal-sized vehicles to be able to make turns safely at slower speeds.
“Yeah, there might be some people that hit them if they take it too fast,” Weinel said. “If you’re not paying attention, you might hit a tire or something.”
For now, Robinson’s frustrated with the new design on his block.
“Going forward, what they should do is think it through,” Robinson said.
Weinel said if something is causing a severe problem, they do evaluate it and will look at complaints for possible changes.
But he said right now for this stretch of Philadelphia there’s no funding for that.
He said the city has other road diet projects in the design phase and they’re currently taking public feedback before work starts.
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